


Delicate Touches

by kiwies



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst, F/M, First Time, Fluff, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Smut, sorry for any mistakes lol, this is my first ever fanfiction, zelink
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:21:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 40,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28852725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiwies/pseuds/kiwies
Summary: this is my first ever fanfiction and i'm just going from the heart with this one. the only things i think are good to know is: this is pre ganon, link doesn't have the master sword yet, link is zeldas knight and she has started to warm up to him now. :))
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 80
Kudos: 124





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first ever fanfiction and i'm just going from the heart with this one. the only things i think are good to know is: this is pre ganon, link doesn't have the master sword yet, link is zeldas knight and she has started to warm up to him now. :))

He half sat, half fell onto the edge of the bed, a shooting pain going through his right side. He cursed himself silently for not taking the time to sit down slowly. Taking in a deep breath, he breathed through the pain of leaning over, letting his head fall forwards towards his knees. He let his held breath out slowly, the pain a little less this time. In again, and then out. In, out. Now that he was still, the pain was subdued and his eyes suddenly felt very heavy. The adrenaline and the effect that it had on his body was gone, but he doubt he would fall asleep easily even so. He was almost dreading moving to lay down, and contemplated for a few moments if he could fall sleep in this uncomfortable sitting position.

He had elixirs for pain, but he never took them. Sometimes he even wondered why he bothered to carry them at all, although something in the back of his mind told him that one day, he would be in so much pain he would have to take one eventually. For a sore neck, and a broken rib or two, it seemed like a waste. He looked up from his legs finally - the stable was dimly lit, candles scattered around seemingly randomly. There was no one else but the stable owner and Zelda, although he couldn't see either of them in his field of view. As far as he knew, Zelda had paid for their beds and went to get changed. Link was on his way to pay for them, but she had told him to go inside and lay down. He refused at first, but then she told him it was an order - and he was too tired to put up with her stubborn ways tonight.

He realised he had been sitting for a few minutes now, and he hadn't seen or heard her since he had sat down. Suddenly a lump formed in his throat, afraid that she had maybe snuck away from the stable. She easily could have, in the amount of time he hadn't been watching her. She could have grabbed a horse and be quite a bit ahead of him by now... His weapons were still in a pile in front of him where he had dropped them, so she wouldn't even have any means to protect herself if something happened. His mind was racing now, his eyes darted around and he began to sit up-

Until he felt the mattress shift from extra weight behind him, and a gentle, soft touch to the back of his hand, that was still resting on his neck. He quickly tore his hand away from under hers, his spine automatically sitting up straight from the touch he wasn't expecting. He hissed in a breath through his gritted teeth, the pain from his ribs shooting up his body to his jaw.

Zelda took her hand away quickly, holding it to her chest. She waited a few moments, and then slowly moved across the bed on her knees to kneel next to him on the edge of the bed, next to where he was sitting. "Does it hurt?" She asked quietly. The stable was so quiet that Link could hear her breathing, and she might have even been close enough for him to feel it on his skin. He felt her presence very close to him, although he was staring straight ahead. He could see from the side of his eye that she had changed into her sleeping clothes, and it was highly unprofessional for him to look at her while she was like that. Even more unprofessional, was him even sitting on the same bed she was sitting on, although his body seemed frozen, unable to stand up.

"Link... Does it hurt?" She whispered, and he suddenly realised he hadn't even answered her.

He glanced over to her, and then quickly looked away. Not straight ahead this time, but a little further so he couldn't even see her from the side of his eyes. Even in the quick glance he had gotten of her, he could tell he had never seen her like that before. Her hair was falling over her shoulders, flat against her head from the stressful journey that they just had, especially since neither of them had washed since the bokoblin attack a few hours ago. Her eyes were wide with worry, her lips slightly parted from finishing her soft question. He slowly shook his head in response to her.

Link hadn't meant for her to see him in pain, he had hidden it very well on the ride to the stable. He had been distracted in combat this time, and he swore to himself it wouldn't happen again after today. He told himself that he was just distracted trying to protect her, but that wasn't really true - protecting her made him better in combat. No, he had just caught her eyes half way through a parry, and lost his concentration. He was thrown back violently with a spear to the side, and then suddenly snapped back into reality. He hadn't taken him long after that to finish the creatures off, and he sheathed his sword and swallowed down the pain so they could get to the stable in peace.

Zelda stayed quiet for what seemed like minutes to Link, but was probably only a few long seconds. "Is it your neck?" She then whispered, like she was afraid to disturb the heavy silence that surrounded them. His neck did hurt, since he had landed awkwardly on the ground, although he supposed it would be fine in the morning. Before he had time to answer her, she reached her hand out and touched her fingers to the back of his neck. It was barely a touch, her fingers just grazing his skin, but it made goose bumps raise over his body and his cheeks burn. He quickly tried to convince himself his touch had this effect on him because he was in pain, but he didn't truly believe it. "Here?" She suddenly spoke again, resting her hand fully, but very gently, on his neck.

He quickly shook his head again, and suddenly released the breath he didn't realise he had been holding for all that time. It took a few shallow breaths to feel like he was breathing normally again. To his surprise, she hadn't taken her hand away like he expected, but he also didn't make a move to take her hand away. All at once, he felt very small compared to the rest of the world, like a scared teenager who had hurt himself, and was craving comfort. He had never felt this way before, and it was frightening. All he wanted to do was just close his eyes and lean his head back into her hand and relax, instead of sitting so rigid, but he his body wouldn't let him.

Zelda let out a slow breath, and he could feel it on his shoulder, breaking him away from his thoughts. "Tell me where it hurts." She was still whispering, and as she questioned him, Link noticed her hand had moved very slowly, so slowly he almost didn't notice, so that some of her fingers were slightly in his hair. The movement of her hand made his head turn automatically back to her, though he didn't quite meet her eyes. Instead, he stared down at her legs, noticing how close her knees were to his thigh. Her hand was now fully onto his head, her fingers in his hair. The feeling would have sent shivers down his spine - if he wasn't still sitting so stiff.

He slowly raised his hand from where it had been resting next to him, so careful not to brush against her. He had a strong urge to reach out, and put his hand on the back of her neck where her hand had been on his, and pull her a little closer. He would lean over, and meet her in the middle, very slowly brushing his lips against hers... But he didn't. He moved his hand over his body to rest on his right side, where he could instantly feel his ribs aching under his hand again. Zelda followed his hand with her eyes silently, and Link felt her move slowly around him on her knees, to kneel next to him on his right side. His neck felt cold since she had removed her fingers from his hair, and he kept his eyes down, staring at where her legs had been moments before.

She placed her hand over his to remove his hand from his side, but didn't let go. Instead, she held his hand in hers, resting their hands together on his thigh. He let out a slow breath, the silence suddenly suffocating for him. However, he took in a sharp breath when she hooked her fingers under his blood stained tunic and lifted it ever so slightly. It hurt, but the feeling of her skin on his was what made him gasp. He turned his head to her quickly, his eyes wide. He didn't move away, and he didn't attempt to take his hand out of her gentle grasp, either. He did, however, shake his head at her slowly, finally allowing himself to look into her eyes, and she met his gaze.

"It's okay." She breathed in response to him. "I'm just... I just want to see."

Link didn't let anyone help him when he was injured. He preferred to be by himself to heal, usually by a fire with his horse. He kept his injuries a secret, because if he didn't, then people might not believe he was a trustworthy knight. He shouldn't have shown any indication that he was in pain while she was around, and he shouldn't have shown her where he was hurt. Although, something told him she wouldn't have given up anyway. He assumed she had known all along, considering she was silent on the ride to the stable, and kept glancing over to him with a worried look on her face.

He hadn't looked at his side yet, though he knew it must be starting to bruise, and he didn't want her to see it. But still, he didn't stop her as she started to lift his tunic again, he just kept his eyes to her face. She had looked away by now, leaning down slightly so she could look under the fabric without having to lift it completely over his chest, and he even moved his arm slightly so she could do see easier. After a few seconds, when her eyes had adjusted to the low light, she gasped and looked back up to him. Link could see that her eyes were watery, and he decided enough was enough. He moved his hand, the one that she wasn't holding, and pulled his tunic back down, stubbornly ignoring the pain that the movement caused. Now not only was he in pain, it seemed like she was as well. He supposed she wasn't used to how broken ribs look, and he remained adamant that they always looked worse that it really was - most injuries did.

Zelda had taken her hand away from his tunic and it was hovering between their bodies, like she was hesitating on where to put it next. She opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it again, and instead reached out to rest her hand on his jaw, her thumb on his cheek and her fingers just under his ear. Maybe it was the pain, or the tiredness, or pure instinct, he leaned into her touch, closing his eyes. He only allowed himself a second of this before he opened his eyes again, and she was looking back at him with something other than worry, but he couldn't place what it was.

"You should sleep." She finally said, after what seemed like an eternity of looking at him. Link half smiled, and gave himself one more moment to enjoy the warmth of her hand on his face, before he went to stand up. Suddenly though, he didn't actually feel very tired anymore. He was standing to give Zelda the bed that he was sitting on and he would make his way to another one, like he felt a knight should, but Zelda stood up before him. These days, she always tended to know what he was thinking without him ever telling her. She was still holding his hand, and took her other away from his face to push him firmly, but gently down onto the bed. Link tried to resist at first, but she was pushing him down harder than he expected, so he just turned himself painfully to lay with his head on the pillow. He tried not to writhe in pain as he did, but it felt like the embarrassment of having Zelda watch him struggle to even lay down hurt more. He took a deep breath and winced again, which caused him to take another sharp breath, which hurt him again. It took a few breaths to get back to normal, and he closed his eyes, his cheeks burning again with embarrassment.

He had hoped Zelda would just leave him, but he knew she hadn't because his hand was still in hers. He opened his eyes again, looking down. He wasn't actively holding her hand anymore, but she was still holding onto him intently. He looked up, giving her a curious look, and she turned her head away shyly. He thought she might be blushing, although he couldn't tell in the candlelight. Reluctantly, he pulled his hand away from hers and turned his head away, closing his eyes again so he didn't have to see the way she slowly retreated to her own bed, clearly upset. He had already gone too far - knights don't hold the hand of Princesses, nor do they sit on the same bed, nor do they exchange delicate touches. And especially, knights don't think about kissing the Princess they're supposed to be guarding. He heard her sulk under her covers in the bed next to him, and he felt a twinge in his heart, but he didn't look over. Instead, he lay awake until he heard her breathing steady, turning his head to check if she was truly asleep, before he allowed himself to fall asleep too.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if anyone is reading this, hi! and thank you! it makes me nervous to put my writing out there for people to read, but i have so much free time now that it seems right! this fic is basically pure fluff with a little story (and most likely smut later on lol) and im not sure how long ill make it, but right now im having way too much fun to stop! anyway ill stop rambling :))

The desert was so hot it was unbearable. He didn't know how long he had been walking for, and his boots kept sinking into the sand as he walked, making him even more exhausted. Drops of sweat were ripping down his face, and his bare chest. Wait, why wasn't he wearing any armour? He didn't know, but he just kept walking, his Hylian trousers whipping in the hot wind. He could see a small oasis ahead - though he could have sworn it wasn't there a minute ago. As he inched closer, he could see that someone had found this oasis before him, there was a tent, some sleeping pads, food, and a pile of wood that he assumed would be a fire when the cold night came. There was a person crouched down by the edge of the glistening water, wringing a cloth out. Was that... Zelda?

He picked up his pace, the hot sand nipping his cheeks as he did. She must have heard him trudging through the sand, because she turned her head to look over her shoulder, her hair flowing in the wind like he had never seen before. "Link." He saw her mouth say his name, but he didn't hear it over the wind. She started to walk over, though she walked so effortlessly across the sand, unlike him. She smiled once they both stopped, standing maybe a meter from each other. "You're sweaty." She giggled.

Link looked down at himself. He _was_ sweaty, though he didn't feel embarrassed by it. Without hesitation, Zelda closed the distance between them and put the wet washcloth she was holding in her hand against his chest, letting some of the cool water drop down his chest and abdomen. Link normally would have stopped her, and the very least taken the washcloth so he could do it himself, but he just stood still. She continued slowly wiping his chest, taking a step closer every now and again. His breath hitched in his throat when she suddenly let the cloth drop onto the sand, and instead placed both her hands on his chest. He looked down again, not quite believing that her hands were actually there. He moved to take her hands away, but his body betrayed him, and he just held her wrists, his thumbs on the backs of her hands, unmoving.

When he finally looked back up, he noticed Zelda had been staring at him the entire time, her eyes wide and unfaltering. "Link." She breathed, stepping closer once again, so close her entire arms were now against his body, and their noses were almost touching. His heart was beating so hard that he knew she would feel it under her fingers, but he didn't pull away, instead - in a moment of weakness - he moved his hands to cup her face.

"Zelda." He said, the raspy, low tone of his voice surprising him. Before he had even finished saying her name, she had leaned in, closing the distance between their lips, and suddenly they were kissing, and his hands had found their way into her hair, and her hands were exploring his chest in a way he had only dreamed of-

Until he woke up.

* * *

Zelda never woke up before Link, it was unheard of. She tried, sometimes, but her efforts were always frivolous. It was like he knew when she was going to stir, and woke up before then to start making food, or get the fire going again, or start packing. This time, though, she woke up when the sun was just beginning to spill into the stable. Looking over, she took a few seconds to take in that Link was still sleeping. She stared, and then slowly, and very quietly, crept out of bed and over to where he was still sound asleep. She looked at him for a least a few minutes, taking in his features. Like the way the light hit his cheeks, and how his chest moved up and down in a steady motion, how his a few strands of hair fell onto his face during the night, and how the large blanket had been kicked off during the night, and how his dirty tunic had rode up, how the scarred skin of his stomach was showing, and the two lines that led down into his trousers were so pronounced...

She shook her head suddenly and turned her back, taking in a deep breath. What was she doing? Being creepy, that's what she was doing. She immediately walked away, fearing that if she waited any longer she might go back to stare at him. She packed away her things as the stable began to look more lively, with people arriving to tend to the horses, and gather around the cooking pot. Once she had packed her things, she packed Links, and put all their things on the horses, knowing that he'd wake up any second and be annoyed that he had slept in and they weren't on the road yet. Although, he didn't wake up, even after she had eaten, and washed herself, and she started to worry a little. She snuck back to check that he was, indeed, breathing, and took a big sigh of relief.

She paced a few steps, wondering if it would be wise to wash some of the grime and blood off of him while he was sleeping. He would never let her while he was awake, she knew that for sure. Feeling brave that morning, she went to fetch a bowl and a washcloth, and eventually had settled herself neatly next to his sleeping body, and to her surprise, he hadn't even woken up when she sat on the bed. She assumed he really must be tired, or maybe he hadn't fallen asleep with how much pain he must be in. She didn't waste any time looking at him again, because she was fearful that she wouldn't ever stop looking over his body, and started with his arms. They were the dirtiest, and she cleaned his skin gently, afraid there may be cuts under the dirt, and she didn't want to hurt him. Or, that's what she told herself. Really, she just didn't want him to wake up, because she felt as though she could do this all day.

Once his arms were clean, she gently started on his lower stomach after wringing the cloth over the bowl. Her heart rate picked up slightly as she did, and she pretended not to know why. She knew she couldn't take his tunic off without waking him, and even if she could, she didn't want to move him in case she hurt him. She could have finished cleaned the exposed skin she could see minutes ago, but she was taking her time. When there was well and truly no more skin to clean, she put the washcloth in her opposite hand, and reached out, gently running her fingertips over a long scar that was poking out under the tight fabric he was wearing. Zelda didn't know why she had done that, or what gave her the bravery too, but once her fingers made contact with his skin, she didn't want to take them away again. That was, until-

"Zelda." Link had murmured, and she yanked her hand away quickly, holding both of her hands to her chest, her heart thumping. The remaining water from the cloth was dripping down her skin. She looked at his face, expecting Link to be looking back at her, but he was still asleep. She took a few breaths to steady her heart, and then looked around briefly. It couldn't have been him that said that, right? Maybe she was imagining things. He had never addressed her, the only thing she had ever heard from him was the sounds he made while fighting or training. Not that she would ever admit it, but she loved those sounds. There was no one else around inside the stable, though. She could hear the quiet chatter of people outside, the whining of horses, and the wind through the trees. No, that had definitely come from his mouth. Her stomach turned in a way she had never felt before, and thinking about the sound of his voice made her shiver. All she wanted to do was wake him up, and ask him to say her name again, but she resisted the urge.

She wouldn't need to wait long for him to wake up, because within the next few seconds he jolted awake. His eyes went to her immediately, then the cloth in her hand, then to the side at his arms, and finally, at his exposed stomach that was still feeling damp. He sat up quickly, looking panicked, although the panic on his face turned into a grimace, his hand instinctively grasping his side. The movement from him on the bed knocked the small bowl of water to the floor, and they both looked at it.

"Sorry." Zelda blurted out as soon as she felt she could speak again. She felt breathless, and clambered out of the bed to pick up the bowl of water. When she glanced back at him, he was pulling his tunic back down, avoiding her gaze. She gulped, and walked away briskly, still gripping the cloth in her hand. It felt like an eternity before she was outside, and Link would be able to see her anymore. She set down the bowl and the cloth on the ground, her hands feeling shaky. She felt awful, and she knew she shouldn't have violated him like that, but she also couldn't stop thinking about the feeling of his skin under her fingertips, and the way her name sounded in his voice. 

* * *

It didn't take long for Link to realise that it was late - they should have been travelling hours ago. He forced himself out of bed, even though the pain in his ribs screamed at him not to. Early in the morning and late at night was when the pain was worst, probably because that's the only time he allowed himself to feel it. He bent down to pick up his weapons, which Zelda had clearly made into a nicer pile next to his bed, almost winding himself in the process. He didn't let himself think about what he'd woken up too, because he didn't want to think about just how _good_ he felt in that dream. It wasn't the first dream he'd had about Zelda, but maybe if he pushed them down deep enough, they would stop happening. Walking out of the stable, he blinked a few times to get used to the bright mid-day sun, and then his eyes found Zelda. She was standing next to the horses, clearly blushing, the flush deep in her cheeks and ears. Link swallowed, and made his way over to her.

"I'm so sorry." She blurted out again, taking a step closer to him. "You were sleeping so soundly, and you looked so peaceful I couldn't wake you. And I knew you were hurt, it looks even worse this morning-" She stopped, shaking her head before continuing. "I just thought you'd be more comfortable when you woke up and I was up so early, and I- I didn't _see_ anything-" She blushed deeper, the red now reaching her ears. "A-And you know, I just wanted to..." She trailed off when Link gave her a nod.

There was a few seconds of uncomfortable silence between them, though Link was just glad she wasn't trying to explain herself anymore. He'd probably rather go fight a camp of monsters before going through his awkward conversation again. He took the reins of her horse, keeping the animal steady to help her up. He had always offered to help her up into her horse since he became her knight, although it was only recently that she had started accepting his help. She took his hand briefly, whispering a shy thanks as she mounted her horse, taking the reins from his hands. He jumped onto his own horse, making sure not to show any indication that it hurt, since that had been what started this entire mess.

As they rode away from the stable, he wondered if anyone had seen. They wouldn't know who he was, but he was sure many people would recognise the Princess. He certainly had never looked upon someone as beautiful as her. Link shook the thought away - where had that come from? He needed to stop thinking like that, because knights didn't think like that. He was already mortified that the Princess felt the need to take care of _him_ , that's how bad he had failed his duty.

They had been riding for a few hours, in silence, which was unusual for Zelda. Over the past few days, she had been much more talkative. She told him many things, about the springs, guardian technology, her father, the champions. It felt like the only silence he got was was at night, and in the morning, when she slept soundly. He didn't mind, though. Usually he liked silence - it made him focus. But as much as he hated to admit it, he liked her voice. He liked when he'd look over, and she would stop for a millisecond before continuing, or smile through her words when he made an indication that he was still listening to her intently. The silence was interrupted, though, by Zelda's voice coming from a few paces behind him.

"I want to camp." She said confidently. He turned his neck to look back at her, with a sceptical look on his face. They hadn't travelled as far as they usually do in a day, and he knew she knew that, otherwise she wouldn't have said it in such a demanding tone. He stopped his horse, gesturing to the land in front of them, giving her an almost exasperated look. Just a little longer, and they'd get to another stable, and then they'd be closer to the Hebra region. She crossed her arms over her chest, and he sighed deeply. Whenever she did that, he knew there was nothing he could do to convince her otherwise. She probably knew that too, which is why she did it so often. He hated that he somehow found it endearing, the way she always had a stubborn pout across her lips. He sighed again, rubbing his face.

Now that they had stopped, the throbbing in his side started again. He had been too lost in thought and the constant movement of riding that he'd almost forgotten he had broken some ribs. Almost. He gave one last longing look towards the stretch of land ahead of them, and then back at her, and then finally gave in completely. He whipped the reins on his horse to get moving, and hearing her do the same. He didn't look back, but he just knew she had a smug look on her face.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if anyone reads this, thank you very much! i'm trying to get better at writing, and i think this is helping a lot! :))

Link liked camping, much more than staying at a stable. He knew his way around Hyrule, and he always took his time to find a nice spot, so he could sit in silence, and look at the view. But with the Princess? Camping was just so... _Beneath_ her. If he could bring her room in the castle with them all the time, he would. He would never understand why she insisted on camping sometimes, when she could have a soft bed at a stable. He wondered if he was a Prince, would be still go camping? That was a hard question. He had finished setting up camp, and lighting the fire. Zelda had been moping most of the time, since he refused to let her help. He knew she would change her demeanour once he sat down at the fire with her - she always did. But, he decided, he could let her mope for a while longer as he cleaned his clothes.

The spot was nice. It was high up, and he had set up camp next to a small lake, surrounded by trees. He had camped here before, but always alone. He shrugged off his tunic, much more carefully as he normally would considering the stabbing pain that was coming from his ribs, standing at the edge of the water. The sun was starting to go down, and it made the lake a lovely colour. He splashed some water on his chest, even though it was mostly clean from this morning, and dried himself. He knelt down slowly to grab a simple tunic, which was the only other shirt he had brought with him. Once it was on, he turned around to see if Zelda was still pouting, though she was staring right back at him. She quickly looked away when he caught her eyes. He almost smiled, and turned back around, deciding it was best if he pretended he never saw her looking.

* * *

Zelda told herself she wanted to camp because he was hurt and needed to rest, and because she liked the views. The view for her, though, was always Link. Her stomach fluttered in a way she liked when he changed his clothes, and washed himself, and even when he cleaned his clothes. She would watch his muscles, and try to count all of his scars from her vantage point. He never usually noticed; or at least she hoped he didn't. Once Link started to come back up to their fire, hanging his wet clothes on a branch to dry, she dragged her gaze away from him to the fire that was burning nicely in front of her. "It's nice here." She said, once Link had sat down opposite her. She wished he would sit next to her sometimes, but she wished a lot of things. She wished he would hold her hand, not just when he was helping her onto her horse. She wished he would hug her, maybe even climb under the blanket with her during the night. She wished he would take his shirt off and just stand in front of her. Right now, she wished he would say her name again. Just once.

Link nodded in response to her, as he usually did. She didn't feel their conversations were one sided anymore, since she had gotten quite good at reading him. He mostly just nodded, or shook his head, or sometimes even shrugged if she asked a question that was more open-ended. "You should take me somewhere nice, one day. I bet you know tons of places." She got a shrug in response. "Is that a yes?" She pressed, laying down on her elbow to the side so she could see him more clearly, instead of looking through the fire. He half smiled at her question, and her stomach fluttered in that way again. He looked over at her, and nodded slowly after a second. Satisfied, she looked back to the fire.

"I feel like I've only seen a sliver of Hyrule. Considering it will be my kingdom one day, I suppose I should branch out more." She continued, resting her cheek in the palm of her hand comfortably. She liked talking to Link, though she could never pinpoint why. Maybe it was because he never told her what to do, like so many others did. Maybe it was because it felt like he was always listening. She supposed it was probably both.

She talked until the sun had gone down almost completely, most of the light coming from the fire, basking them in a warm glow. Shadows from the fire danced over Link's face, and sometimes she would take a moment to watch them, before she continued speaking. "I don't have any scars." She said, resuming her conversation. "Father would always make such a fuss over me, I don't think I could ever find the time to even get one. I bet you have a lot, though." She murmured, absent-mindedly brushing the grass next to her with her fingers.

"Yes."

Zelda snapped her head towards Link. "What?" She asked, her mouth practically hanging open. In response, Link shrugged a shoulder. She knew he had spoken - there was no one else around - but she still couldn't believe it. Though she didn't want to ask him to repeat himself once more, for fear he may never speak again. Instead, she crawled off of her sleeping pad and across the small patch of grass onto his, sitting cross-legged beside him, facing him intently. Link looked at her curiously, and a little nervously, though he didn't move away. His voice enthralled her, like she had never heard another person speak to her in her life. "Will you show me?"

Link furrowed his brow, focusing again on the fire, clearly deep in thought. He poked the fire a few times with a stick, and finally shook his head. Zelda pouted, tilting her head to the side while she looked at him. "Just one? Please, Link." She was prepared to beg for a lot longer, though after a few long moments, he held out his right arm to her. He took his own arm in his hand, running his thumb along a very thin, long line across his forearm so she could see where it was. She leaned over him to get a better look, and then plopped back down into her original position. "Not like that, a better one." She said, although when Link raised an eyebrow, she hastily added: "Not like that, you know what I mean." She looked down sheepishly, tucking her hair behind her ear on both sides before resting her hands in her lap.

Link did seem to know what she meant, since he rolled up the left sleeve of his tunic, painstakingly slowly. He lifted his arm slightly to show her the inner part of his upper arm. He didn't need to show her where this one was. It was wide, and wrapped around the soft skin, stopping at his bicep. It was ragged, and looked a little sunken in, like the healing had been interrupted many times. Zelda scooted closer to him. The position of his arm made his muscles more defined, and the glow of the fire enhanced the shadows in a way that made her have to take in a manual breath. Before she really thought about what she was doing, she had reached out to touch her fingers to the scar. Link jerked his arm back like he had hurt her, his eyes snapping back to her from the flames.

Zelda looked at him briefly, but kept her hand hovering. He hadn't changed the position of his arm, so she pushed herself slightly closer and reached out again. He didn't move this time, maybe because he was expecting her touch, and she slowly ran her fingers along the length of the scar. She saw him take in a slow, deep breath, though she couldn't bring herself to take her hand away. She had touched him like this twice now, and she wasn't sure if she would ever get enough of it. She wanted to ask how he got it, but she knew he wouldn't answer her. Not in the way she wanted, anyway. He put his arm down, and in response, Zelda rested her hand on his bicep, the way she could feel his muscles move under his skin making her breath catch in her throat. "Can I see another one?" She whispered, like she was afraid if she raised her voice above a whisper that she would scare him off.

She watched him think for a while longer, but he never actually answered her, so she moved her hand from his arm to his collarbone, just under his tunic. She could feel his eyes on her, but she kept looking at her own hand, pulling the fabric down slightly so she could see the full scar. Link had closed his eyes and moved his head back every so slightly so she could see it better, and she thought about leaning forwards and pressing a kiss to his neck - the thought made a shiver go through her. She regretted the thought immediately, because Link had felt her shiver and gotten up to get a blanket. "No, Link." She sighed, almost desperately. "I'm not cold, you don't have to-" She gave up her sentence, since he was already draping a blanket over her shoulders. When he had sat back down again, he was on the edge of his sleeping pad, much further away from her than he had been a minute ago. She let a sigh out of her nose, and reluctantly went back to her own sleeping mat, pulling the blanket around her. Her eyes always seemed to get heavy before his did, and she tried to fight sleep as long as she could, but she ended up giving in and laying down anyway, and was asleep long before Link even started to look tired.

* * *

Zelda woke up to the smell of food, like she usually did when they ended up camping. She liked the sound of the fire crackling, and the morning chill nipping her lips, and probably most of all, he liked that Link always thrust a bowl of hot food into her hands without a word. The same happened this morning, and she sat up, taking the bowl from him sleepily. Before she had even finished eating, Link had started packing, and her heart sank a little. She put her half eaten food down, standing up. "I want to stay another night." She blurted out, and as she expected, Link turned around to give her a stern look. "We are days ahead of schedule anyway, and if we took one night... And you need to rest anyway, and-" She stopped herself suddenly when she saw him turning back around to continue packing up. "I'm hurt." She said, and just as she thought, Link stopped and turned to her again. "I've..." She struggled to come up with an injury on the spot. "Twisted my ankle. I couldn't possibly travel today." She concluded, dropping down dramatically onto her sleeping pad, putting her hands to one of her ankles.

Of course, she knew Link didn't believe her, but he still came over anyway, kneeling down in front of her to look at her ankle. She took her hands away so he could gently prod her ankle. "Ow." She mumbled, though it came out far less convincing than she thought it would. Link rolled his eyes - which she had never seen him do before - although she was sure that he had done it plenty of times behind her back when she was being stubborn. Just like right now. He finally gave in, getting up to grab his pillow and put it under her ankle, and Zelda lay back down with a smug smile on her face.

Link had trained most of the day, and Zelda had happily watched him, although she couldn't help but notice that he would stop every now and again, sword in hand, and take a few deep breaths. She knew he was just trying to hide how much pain he was in, but she didn't want to bring it up in case he stopped doing what he would doing, and then she wouldn't be able to stare at him for hours at a time. She, on the other hand, and lazed around for the day. She braided her hair, and stretched out her limbs, and cooked some food. By the time the sun had made it's way half way up the sky, she had even convinced him that she was still in agony with her ankle, and they had to stay another night.

Once the fire and moon were the only light they had, Zelda had crawled back over to him, willing to continue to try what she started the night before. This time, he didn't jerk away from her hands, and allowed her to run her fingers up and down his arms, and up onto his shoulders, though they both knew she wasn't following the path of his scars anymore, she was purely just touching him. Link had even relaxed into it, leaning back on his hands and letting his eyes close.

All Zelda could think about was how his skin felt under her fingers, how his tunic was now draped over him in a way she hadn't seen before, and the two words that she had heard him speak. 'Zelda', and 'Yes'. Sometimes she swapped them around in her head; 'Yes, Zelda.' Either way, they made her stomach feel funny. Her thoughts were interrupted when her eyes caught sight of the bruises poking out from under his baggy tunic, seemingly running up right to his chest. "Does it still hurt?" She asked; that had been the first words she had spoken in a while. Link opened his eyes to look at her, and shrugged a shoulder in response. It didn't matter, she knew it still hurt anyway - she had seen it in him all day. She waited until he had closed his eyes again, and leaned his head back a little, and she reached down to hook her fingers under the soft fabric at the bottom of his tunic and lift it up slightly. She stopped, expecting him to stop her, though he stayed unmoving, stoic. Zelda inhaled slowly, and lifted it up most of the way, up to his collarbone. It draped down over his left side, his right side exposed to the cool air. She could see goose bumps rising over his chest, though she was taken in by the abstract collection of bruises. They were deep, dark splotches of purple and red over his ribs, spreading out into light, yellow bruises until they dissipated into nothing.

"That looks sore." She whispered, and barely saw Link shake his head in response, since her eyes were still focused on his side. She laid her palm out on his right breast, which felt firm and warm under her touch, his tunic being held up by her wrist. She used her other hand to barely brush the purple bruises with her fingertips. "Does that hurt?" She was still whispering. Link let out a shaky breath, and for a moment she was scared she really did hurt him with her touch, but he just reached out to touch her arm, running his fingers up her arm like she had done to him. The touch made her shiver as well, and she moved her hand to follow the new scars that she could see on his chest. They continued this for a while, her exploring his chest and him exploring her arm, up onto her shoulder, every fresh piece of skin they touched making them both shiver.

By the time Zelda had touched almost every inch of his chest, she was on her knees next to him, leaning forwards so her face was almost unbearably close to his, their breaths mixing together in white mist in the cold air. She was trembling at this point, and Link's breath was shaky. In a moment of bravery, Zelda leaned forwards just a little more, their lips almost touching, but stopped in her tracks when Link put a firm hand on her shoulder. He didn't push her back, instead, he had moved his body away, so she could no longer feel his breath on her face. "Why?" She breathed, taking her hands away from his chest and pushing his hand away from her. He took his hand back, and rubbed his face with it. "Because you're a knight?" She continued, her voice now louder, with a twinge of anger in it. "Because that isn't what knights do?"

The way his expression changed and his jaw clenched told her she was right, and she forced out an angry sigh, though it was only meant to cover up the fact that her eyes were beginning to get watery. They looked at each other for a moment, both breathing heavier than normal. She opened her mouth to snap something at him, but closed it again, fearing that if she began talking, it might come out as a sob. She stumbled to her feet, swallowing the lump in her throat and went back to sit on her sleeping pad, wrapping herself in a blanket. She felt very cold now, especially since the fire in her stomach had been replaced with a sinking feeling. She didn't look over at him, instead, she lay down with her back to him, closing her eyes before any tears could drip out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im not thrilled with this chapter, but i know if i worked on it anymore then i would never work up the courage to post it! to make up for it, ill post chapter 5 at the same time as this one - and thanks to whoever reads this! it means a lot :))

Link didn't know why he had spoken to Zelda. He never spoke - there was just no need to. He could always gesture what he meant and if he couldn't, a couple of words would always do it. He would never just answer someone when a nod would be justified, and now he had caused a problem between them. It had slipped out and he had been surprised to hear his own voice, but some part of him just wanted her to know he was listening. He regretted it fully now, because him speaking had led to an _almost_ kiss. They had been too close, and he shouldn't have let her touch him, and he shouldn't have touched her. He was just a knight, and he was well and truly kidding himself if he thought she would rather touch him than one of the many men that would have her hand in Hyrule. He supposed travelling around him for so long was clouding her judgement.

He hadn't slept much that night. He felt bad, and each time he was about to drift to sleep, he kept picturing her watery, hurt eyes. He got up while it was still dark, and started to pack up all of their things. He had promised her to stay another night, but something told him she probably wouldn't want to anymore. The horses had been seen too, and their camp had been packed away before the sun had even come up. It looked like it was going to be a foggy day, and he took a moment to look across the horizon, the only sounds the slight wind and some animal chitters - suddenly broken by Zelda's voice.

"I don't feel well." She said, very quietly. He doubted he would have actually been able to hear her if he hadn't stopped to listen to the wildlife. Link wanted to tell her that he was sorry, they couldn't stay another night even though he said that they could, because they both knew her ankle was fine and because he shouldn't have let her touch him like that, and most of all: because if she tried to kiss him one more time he wasn't sure that he wouldn't kiss her back. Instead, he turned around to give her a look, but when he actually saw her his face was more concerned. She looked very pale and weak, even though he had made sure she had plenty to eat yesterday, and it wasn't like her to wake up so early. He walked over, his boots squelching in the dewy grass. He kneeled down next to her and put the back of his hand to her forehead. She was sweaty, and her forehead was hot, even though the air around them still had a chill to it.

She had sat up a little so he could feel her forehead, and then half collapsed back down into a laying position, a few strands of hair stuck to her forehead. Link swallowed - he would have known what to do if she had a deep cut, or had hit her head, or maybe gotten a bad burn, but he didn't know what to do about her being sick. He hadn't been sick much in his life, and when he had, he always dragged himself out of bed for training. He thought for a moment, though the only thing he could think of was to take her back. It would probably take him about a day and a half to get her back to the castle, if he pushed his horse to it's limit and left some of the heavy camping gear behind. He left her laying down while he quickly decided what to take and what not to take, deciding he could come back at a later date to see if it was still there.

He thought about trying to help her to her feet, but she didn't look like she would even be able to do that, so he knelt down, and took a few deep breaths. She wasn't heavy to him by any means, but the pain in his ribs screamed at him to not lift her. Ignoring the agony in his side, he hooked his arm under her knees and one under her back, and lifted her up, gritting his teeth as he did. It was a clumsy ordeal to get them both onto his horse, since she didn't seem to be able to hold herself up for very long. He was out of breath by the time they were both up, Zelda curled up between his legs with the side of her body and head against his chest. His side was aching, and he stifled a groan when his horse started galloping, making the ache turn into sharp pains.

It actually took him two days to get back to the castle. He stopped a lot at first, to try and get Zelda to eat and drink, though she never kept any of it down. He wasn't sure if it was part of her being ill, or if it was the movement of the horse straight after eating. The longest stop was for a few hours, and it was only to let his horse rest for fear of it collapsing before they reached their destination. Zelda had slept most of the way, waking up to vomit or being woken up by Link to force some water into her mouth, and she was still sleeping by the time they approached the castle, despite the noise of his horse whining loudly. It was raining, and the cobblestones were slick, and his exhausted horse was having trouble even walking across them. It was very early morning, though there were still a few people around that cast him a strange look as he went towards the large castle doors.

Finally reaching the castle had made Link feel more calm, but not by much. If anything, it meant the pain from his ribs suddenly got worse, and the gnawing hunger in his stomach was suddenly very prevalent. His legs felt like jelly as he carried her through the large doors, though he thanked Hylia that a guard had met him half way.

"What happened?" The guard exclaimed, moving to take Zelda out of his arms. He almost refused to hand her over, but was thankful he did, because his legs almost gave out just before he did, making him stumble. His chest was heaving, and he grasped a hand to his side, sweat rolling down his forehead. He shook his head to the guard to tell him that he didn't know what happened to her, though the guard hadn't seen, since he had already turned his back to take her to the castle healer. Link followed, wiping his brow and taking a deep breath to centre himself, telling himself he shouldn't be letting anyone see him looking so... weak.

Link stood next to Zelda's bed for a long time. He had been given a chair, but knights who were guarding Princesses didn't sit. The healer hadn't acknowledged him, or even told him if she was going to be alright, and Link hadn't asked; it wasn't his place. The King had come soon after the healer was finished, looking tired, though somehow still kept his aura of royalty around him. Link avoided his eyes, ashamed of letting this happen on his watch, though he felt the King's eyes on him for a moment. He was just as pale as Zelda, his clothes still damp from the rain, his hair was barely in his ponytail anymore, and his hands that were behind his back were shaking slightly, probably from lack of food and exhaustion. 

"You are dismissed." The King said, his voice still confident, bellowing and calm even though he was faced with a very sick daughter. Link hesitated for just a moment, though he could never have ignored an order from the King. He allowed himself one, fleeting look at Zelda as he turned to leave, walking out of the castle infirmary. He wasn't sure where to even go, though his quarters seemed like the best place. His room was very small, it had a desk, a bed, and a tiny dresser, though the drawers were pretty much empty. He supposed this room wouldn't be his for much longer, since he would soon be fired from his post as the Princesses personal knight. He collapsed onto his bed, staring at his ceiling for a long time, his legs handing over the edge of the bed. He had planned to go back outside and see to his horse, maybe change his clothes and eat something, but before he knew it his eyes had flicked closed and he was sleeping.

* * *

Zelda had been told she had woken up many times over the week, although it was only at the end of the week she _truly_ woke up. She knew because when she opened her eyes she could finally take in her surroundings, and the man standing next to her bed. At first she had thought it was Link, but it only took her a split-second to realise it wasn't. She sat up groggily, and the guard didn't move to look at her. She felt a twinge in her heart - Link would have probably given her a worried look.

She wasn't allowed to leave her bed for another day, although she had relaxed when her father had answered a few questions. Well, a few questions was actually a barrage of questions while she tried to convince him she could get up and felt just fine. Link had left her horse behind, which brought some tears to her eyes, but she was almost happy to know her father had sent someone out to see if they could retrieve it around the area they had been camping. They weren't sure what made her so sick, but they assumed it was a bug bite, maybe a reaction to a plant she had brushed across. By the time she had eaten a big meal, and finished a large glass of water, there was only one more question she wanted to ask - Where was Link? She was nervous to ask for fear her father might somehow know how she felt about him, or how much she longed for him to be there, but she shook the thought from her head. How could he possibly know that? Eventually she had asked- it was a fleeting, last moment question before her father left her so she could rest more. Her stomach had been churning with worry, but she was much more calm after she learned that he hadn't been dismissed from his position, he had just been given time off to rest, and had promptly left to visit the Zora domain instead of staying at the castle.

Zelda knew that she could have went travelling with another knight, but she didn't want too. She couldn't imagine anyone else accompanying her after spending so much time with Link, even though she spent many nights thinking about her rejection from him. It hurt, especially when she was laying in bed by herself, staring at the ceiling. But she couldn't blame him, not really. What would even happen if they did kiss? It's not like she could be with him anyway, and they'd have to keep it a secret. Her stomach churned thinking about what would happen to him if her father found out, but she banished the thought from her mind.

Princess duties were boring - that's why she like being away from the castle. At a spring, camping, at a stable... It didn't matter, because she didn't have to politely address people, or sit through boring political dinners, or sit through conversations with her father about her power. She could just live, and be herself. Her father had told her he didn't know when Link would be back, and he "didn't understand why it mattered anyway," because he could just assign another knight to her in the meantime. So instead, she did her Princess duties during the day, and at night and in the mornings, she would watch out of her window, hoping that she would catch him riding up the cobblestone path to hitch his horse in the stable. Although it had been days, and he still wasn't here. Sometimes during the day she even snuck off to take a peek at the stables, just in case she had missed him that morning. She had started to mope in the mornings while she stared out of her window, and she even started to worry he might not come back . Maybe he didn't want to come back because she tried to kiss him. Maybe she had misunderstood his touch, and misunderstood the way he looked at her while she was talking, and helped her onto her horse every time, and always gave her food before he ate, and...

Her thoughts were interrupted by a horse trotting up the path, and then going to the side towards the stables. It was dark, and she squinted to see if it really was him, her heart starting to pick up pace. The horse, and the man riding it was now out of her view as they had gone into the stables. She cursed her room for being so high up, and wondered if she really should go down to him - it would be very embarrassing if it was someone else. After a minute of deliberating, she decided to trust her gut, and ran to her door. Stopping just after she had opened it, she slammed it back shut to dig through her wardrobe. She was in a nightgown, and it wasn't like he hadn't seen her in her sleeping clothes before, but a part of her wanted to look presentable for him. _If it is really him_ , she thought bitterly. She promised herself if it wasn't, then she would stop waiting like a fool at her window every morning and night. Even though she thought those things, she still pulled on her clothes and her boots in a hurry before she left, taking the stairs two at a time.

She knew exactly which room was Link's, even though there was plenty of doors surrounding it for the other knights that stayed at the castle. She had been running fast, and before she could even stop to think if she should maybe knock on his door before she entered, she had flung it open and stopped dead in her tracks, her hair falling over one of her shoulders from the motion.

Link had just finished taking of his weapons, leaning his sword against the wall, though he had jumped in fright and turned to her when she swung the door open, his sword clattering to the floor and half coming out of its sheath. A small gasp escaped her, since she had only half expected him to actually be here, and she shut the door with a slam and ran to close the small distance between them, throwing her arms around his waist and hugging him very tightly. She only held him for a moment before she let go, suddenly remembering how bruised and beaten his side had looked last time she had seen him. When she let go, Link fell into a kneel on one knee in front of her, and she held a hand to her heart, thinking she had hurt him. "I'm so sorry, I-I forgot about your side, I didn't mean to-" She stopped when Link had half smiled and patted his side with his hand, and she suddenly realised he was kneeling because she was the Princess. That was so... him.

Zelda let out an exasperated sigh. "Link, what are you doing?" She exclaimed, leaning down to grab his hands and attempted to pull him to his feet, though she had forgotten how strong he was. "Get _up,_ Link!" She said again, although she had a smile on her face anyway. Once Link was on his feet, she threw his arms around his neck this time, burying her face in his neck. He smelled like the outdoors, and maybe a hint of salt water. She had already forgotten his rejection and how it made her feel because he was here now, and she was hugging him. Although, he wasn't hugging her back. She hadn't expected him too, though it's not like they were in public. "Link." She mumbled into his neck. "No one will see if you hug me back, you know."

She couldn't see his face, but she could tell there was a smile on it, and he relented and wrapped his arms around her. His hands felt strong on her back, and his body was tense against hers at first, but he soon relaxed into their embrace. She hadn't realised she was crying until she felt wet on her cheeks, and Link had clearly noticed it on his neck, because he leaned back slightly to look at her face. He moved one of his hands to her cheek to wipe away a few tears with his thumb, and she blushed furiously. "Sorry." She whimpered, wiping the rest of her tears with the back of her arm and then quickly returning her arm to be around his neck, like she she was scared he would pull away. "I just thought you weren't going to come back, or maybe that my father had told you not to come back and never told me, and I was asleep for a _week,_ did you hear about that? And then I woke up and you weren't even there and I even waited at my window for you-" She cut her rambling off, her blush reaching her ears when she met his eyes and saw he still had a small smile on his face. She was sure he could probably feel the heat of her blush on his hand, but she didn't want him to take it away even so.

"It doesn't matter." She continued, laughing at herself for rambling. "Can we go for a walk?" She didn't really want to go for a walk, she wanted to stay and have her arms around him forever. Link gave a longing look to his bed that was next to where they were standing, and she sighed. "Of course, you're tired. It's late and you just got back today. I should leave you to sleep." She said, although she didn't make any move to let go, she just buried her face back into the crook of his neck. In response, Link moved his hand from her cheek to rest at the back of her head, his fingers running through her hair as he did. They stayed that way for a least a few minutes, until Zelda spoke again. "I could sleep here too." She finally said, and Link gave a small laugh, and started to slowly walk her towards she door. "No one would even know." She continued, a grin on her face. "And you know, I might be coming down with something again, you should probably keep an eye on me." Her words didn't seem to convince him, though she hadn't tried very hard to make herself sound convincing. He opened the door with one of his hands, the other resting on her hip. Her hip seemed to tingle under his touch, and she wished he would slide his hands up her shirt to rest on her bare skin.

"Okay." She breathed when he had gently pushed her to the door. "I know I can't stay here tonight. But I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked, lifting her head from his neck to look at him. He nodded, and she finally took a small step back to separate their bodies that had been pressed together so close, although she moved her hands to rest firmly on his chest to stop him from closing the door. "I'll see you in the morning, right?" She asked quietly, even though he had already told her he would see her tomorrow. Link laughed once, and then nodded, taking her hands and removing them from his chest, and moving her one step back so she was out of the threshold of his room. "Okay." She repeated, now satisfied that he would still be here tomorrow. Link waited a moment, and it looked like he wasn't going to close the door for a second as they looked at each other, though he eventually did. It closed with a small click, and she was plunged into the darkness of the castle corridors. She listened for the noise of the door locking, but it never came. She stood outside his door for a few more moments, debating on whether she could go back in and ask if she could stay the night again and maybe, just maybe he would say yes... But she decided against it, and turned her back before she could think about it anymore, making her way back to her own room


	5. Daily Routines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had WAY too much fun writing this, it's 100% zelink fluff :))

Their first morning routine started just when everyone in the castle was finishing breakfast, the day after Link returned from the Zora domain. He had planned to be outside of her room for when she woke up and got ready, like he usually was when he guarded her in the castle. That plan was quickly interrupted because he was summoned to speak with the King as soon as he woke up. Walking along the corridors he felt like he might puke, his stomach churning with nervousness. It hadn't been as bad as he thought, though being spoken sternly too by the King made him feel very... small. "No camping." He had said. Also no bug, or plants, or harsh weather. Link didn't know how he could keep her away from bugs and plants, considering she would crawl along the ground to get a good look at a flower, but he had agreed anyway.

He still felt his stomach may betray him on the walk towards the dining hall, but the nervousness changed to a strange fluttering when he saw her sitting at the large table. He waited at the door, since he couldn't interrupt a royal breakfast, though it didn't take long for her to realise he was there. She stood up quickly, and then composed herself. "You must excuse me." She said politely, smoothing out her dress. Link didn't take much notice to clothing, his were usually stained or dirty, but he couldn't help but notice that whatever she wore made her look like a Goddess. A Goddess? Where had that come from? He told himself sternly that he had to stop thinking like that. "I have a very busy day ahead." Zelda continued, leaving her chair to exit the hall. Link bowed as she passed, though she didn't acknowledge it, and he followed a few paces behind her.

Link wasn't surprised to find out she didn't have a busy day at all. The opposite, in fact. She planned to laze around the whole day, she had told him. She had found shade under a large tree in a fairly secluded are of the castle grounds. "This is where I go sometimes when I don't want people to know where I am." She explained to him, leaning her back against the tree and looking up at Link, who was standing a few steps in front of her, a book held delicately in her lap.

"Do you want to read it with me?" She asked, looking up at him. Link wasn't much of a reader, in fact he couldn't remember the last time he even read a book. And even then, the books were usually training ones, about being a knight or how to handle a sword in battle. He shrugged in response, and she patted the grass next to her. "I just started, I'll go back to the beginning with you." She said, opening her book and flicking the pages to the start of the first chapter. The grass was still damp from the morning dew, but Zelda didn't seem to care, so Link sat down next to her, being very careful their arms didn't touch. He read slower than she did, but she didn't seem to mind. When she was ready to turn the page, she would look up at him to make sure he was finished, and she quickly was able to tell that if his brow was still furrowed then he was still reading, but if he met her eyes for a moment, then he was finished. She would slowly turn the page, and Link always watched her fingers slide down the paper, the movement mesmerising to him. And so, a morning routine was born.

They left the castle a few days later - Zelda wanted to make absolutely sure that no one had found her horse before she got a new one. "She might find her way home, she is very smart." She had said to him, though Link doubted it very much. Still, she must have eventually decided that her horse wasn't coming back, and carefully picked out a new one to travel with.

The first stable they stayed at was surrounded by flowers, and no matter how hard Link tried, he couldn't stop her crouching down close to the ground to look at it. More often than not, he ended up on the ground too, squinting at it while she told him all about it. He looked forwards to the mornings at the stable the most. He would make breakfast, and then they would walk a little away from everyone else to sit and continue their book. Zelda always sat down first, and always had to coax him into coming to sit next to her, though it never took much convincing for him to lay his sword down next to him and sit down.

Link had lost his place on the page about a chapter ago, but he didn't say anything. He didn't want to interrupt her flow, and he enjoyed watching her read maybe even more than he enjoyed reading himself. Sometimes her head would tilt to the side while she read something particularly interested, and would bite her bottom lip if she came across something confusing. Zelda suddenly turned her head to him, closing the book on her fingers. "You're not even reading." She said to him sternly, although she had a smile on her face anyway. Link blushed and shrugged a shoulder, looking away quickly. Zelda laughed, and playfully punched his arm. He rubbed his arm in fake hurt, and she giggled and opened her book again, shifting her position. Now, their arms were touching, and Link thought about shifting his body and moving away, but he pretended that he didn't notice. "Pay attention." She said, her eyes moving to find the place she was on the page. "I think it's about to get exciting."

* * *

Zelda still had Princess duties while she went to the stables, even though she wished she could sit on the grass and read with Link until the end of time. She needed to recruit people - anyone willing to try and pull the master sword from it's resting place. It wasn't an easy task, many weren't up to the job. Still, she spoke to many people. She was actually starting to enjoy it. People would tell her stories around the fire at night: and she always got invested in them. Sometimes people even played songs for her, and she always clapped happily at the end of them. She even clapped when people serenaded her, even though she would blush furiously. It seemed like every now and again, a hint of jealousy would cross Link's face when other people confessed their love for her through song, but she couldn't be sure.

By the time they moved on to another stable, their arms were always touching when they read in the mornings. Zelda made sure of it. Reading somehow felt cosier when they were touching. It was a little windy, and the pages kept flapping in the wind. She gave a sigh the third time she had to adjust her grip to stop the page folding on itself, and Link reached out to hold the page in place. The movement took her away from the story, and she glanced over at him. He hadn't seemed to notice, his eyes focused solely on the words. She smiled a little and continued reading. At some point while they read, their hands had touched while they were resting on the ground. Just barely - their pinkies touching.

The next morning, their pinkies were touching again, and the morning after that, she had put her hand just slightly over his. She expected him to move his hand away, though he didn't react. She didn't even want to move her hand to turn the page, but somehow Link knew, and he took it upon himself to turn the pages for her. It made it easier, actually, because she was always finished by the time he was ready. Sometimes they switched, and he held the book and she turned the pages, and it gave her an excuse to look at his face every now and again to see if he had completed the page. They both told themselves that they weren't _really_ holding hands - they were just reading. Nothing more, nothing less.

"I think they're going to fall in love." She said one morning. They were usually silent in their routine, and it was clear Link had been surprised that she spoke. He gave her a sceptical look, shaking his head confidently. "They hate each other now, sure." She continued, looking back at the book, rubbing the bottom corner of the paper between her thumb and forefinger. The two characters had just been fighting, and said some vile things to each other, though they had to stay together so they could rescue their friend from a great danger. "But I hated you too, in the beginning." She said, though then blushed and glanced at him, hoping that he had been looking at the book too, though he was looking back at her. "I mean- It's different though, obviously. I don't lo-" She struggled to find the words. "It's just different, you know what I meant" She concluded, quickly turning the page without checking if he was done reading. She felt his eyes on her for a second more, but then he looked back down to the pages silently.

The next stable was surrounded in a thick blanket of fog that morning, though it didn't stop them returning to their routine, which they had so comfortably fallen into. Zelda could see Link was tired. She knew this because whenever she had groggily opened her eyes for a second during the night to shift her position, he had been sitting up in his bed. She didn't know what he was thinking about, and she wanted to ask, but she knew he would never tell her. Their hands were touching on the grass, which was wet from the fog landing on it, though she could tell he wasn't really reading - his eyelids looked heavy. "Close your eyes." She said, taking her hand away from his and wiping the moisture on her trousers. He looked at her, confused, and she smiled and put a hand over his eyes. "Close them." She repeated, and slowly took her hand away. She waited a few seconds to make sure he would keep his eyes closed, and started reading aloud. She would glance over occasionally to see if he was looking, or even if he had fallen asleep, but he didn't do either. After a few pages, she boldly leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. She didn't stop reading, because she thought if she paused for a second then he might have time to think about moving away.

Sometimes Link would play with the children at the stable. He would chase after them while she spoke to willing recruits, though whenever he laughed she got so distracted she usually had to start her sentence over again. She noticed that he would always let them win, no matter what game they played, even though he denied it when she brought it up in a teasing manner. He would also show the children his weapons, they would hold his bow but he would always have a hand on it just in case, and they would touch the handle of his sword, but he never took it out of it's sheath. Zelda would watch him while he did this, pondering how she never noticed how tense Link was when they were travelling; always on edge in case there was danger. At the stables it was different, she supposed. There wasn't much danger in a stable apart from a horse biting her hand when she fed it an apple.

Link always polished his sword before they left a stable. Zelda had offered to help, but he always refused. Instead, she had taken to count his arrows while he stood with his sword, touching them one by one with her fingers as she counted them. She was pretty sure he always knew how many arrows he had at one given time, but despite that, he always gave her a smile when she told him how many there was. And that was the start of their second routine.

* * *

Link sometimes pretended he was tired so Zelda would read out loud to him. This time, he was laying on the grass, his sword by his side, and Zelda had the back of her head resting on his stomach. He liked the way the sun felt on his closed eyes, and he liked the way Zelda would put on different voices for different characters, and he liked that she was only brave enough to rest her head somewhere on his body when his eyes were closed. He absorbed the story more when she read it to him, like he hung onto every word just because it poured out her mouth like honey.

They hadn't read together that morning, because it was raining. A little rain hadn't stopped them before, but by the time the sun had come up, the ground was covered in water and there wasn't a dry patch in sight. He told himself firmly that he missed the story, not her. He didn't miss the way she sometimes stopped and quickly looked at the next page to see if she guessed right at what was about to happen, and then would giggle and resume reading. He didn't miss how they would take turns turning the pages, all so they wouldn't need to lift their hands from one another for a second. He didn't miss- He stopped himself. He seemed to have to remind himself not to think like that much more often these days. Zelda had spoken to people for most of the day, even though there was no one else in the stable willing to try and pull the master sword. She had sat in a circle with the children while an old man told them a story about a big apple tree with a spirit trapped inside the wood, who was hurt every time someone would pluck one of it's apples and eat it. Link had just started to get interested in the story too, until the elder laughed a wise, bellowing laugh, and said it was getting to late to continue.

In his bed, Link was awake long after everyone else in the stable had fallen asleep, making the only noise he could hear the clatter of rain and howling wind. Zelda's bed was next to his, a few feet away, and he looked over when he saw movement from it. She was getting up, and rummaging around in her bag, and then had pushed the blanket away from her and gotten up. She sat down on the cold wood floor between their beds. "Link." She whispered. If he hadn't been looking at her, he wouldn't have even heard her speak over the rain. "I can't wait until morning to see how it ends."

He sat up a little, his eyes adjusting to the dark, and then having to adjust to light again when she lit a small candle and placed it next to her. He only now noticed she had the book in her hands, and was looking over at him hopefully. They only had one chapter to go, and Link didn't really want it to end. Hopefully she had brought at least one more book with her, but he would read the same story over and over again if it meant it was with her. Link sat up properly, looking around. It was very late, but how long could one more chapter take? Maybe it would make him sleepy. But if anyone saw, it would be hard to explain why a knight was huddled up with the Princess under the light of a single candle. He looked around once more, and finally caved. He swung his legs around to the edge of the bed and slinked to the floor to sit next to her. Without a conscious thought, he put his hand on the ground next to him so she could lay her hand on top.

The candlelight made it hard to read: the light kept flickering and once it even puffed out from the draft until Zelda lit it again. Even so, it didn't take them long to finally finish the last page. Their eyes looked at the last sentence for much longer than it took to actually read it, and then she slowly closed the book, holding it on her lap. They were both silent for a while, sitting still with their arms touching, and over time, their legs had even ended up touching. Zelda turned her head to him, and he could have sworn they were closer than they ever had been while reading. Maybe it was just cold, but he could swear he could feel her blush on his own face even though he couldn't see it in the dim light.

"I knew they would fall in love." She whispered, breaking the silence. Link didn't answer, because it didn't seem like a statement that needed an answer, and also because their faces were so close to each others, and he was sure she had leaned in just _slightly_ closer, and then he was absolutely sure she had leaned in closer because their lips had just brushed together. He couldn't hear the rain anymore, because his heartbeat was so loud in his chest and because he could practically hear the blood rushing to his face and his ears. Then it happened again, their lips just barely brushing against each others, both of them closing their eyes. He could tell she was breathing just as fast as he was, because he could feel it on his face, and then she leaned forwards more to press their lips together properly for the first time. It was only for a second, and then she pulled away. But then it happened again, and again, and again, and now Link was meeting her half way to kiss her back. He would have definitely had many thoughts that told him he had to move, he had to get up and go and get some fresh air, but he didn't because all he could think about was how soft her lips were and the way she breathed out and in after every kiss, and how every kiss felt a little more passionate and confident than the last, and how now they were keeping their lips together for longer each time, and her body seemed to be moving closer towards him, and her hand had reached out to touch the side of his neck, and-

Then there was the sound of bare feet padding across the wood floor, and they tore themselves apart, each going into their respective beds and pulling the blanket across themselves. Link was breathing heavily, his eyes wide, and his heart thumping almost painfully hard. He put a hand on his chest in an effort to calm himself, looking to see who was walking around. A small child, climbing groggily into bed after seemingly getting some water during the night. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but it didn't go away. He thought about looking over at Zelda, but something about doing that would make what just happened seem more _real_ , so he just let himself fall into a laying position with his head on the pillow and closed his eyes, his lips tingling.

The next morning they started to read a new book, Link polished his sword while Zelda counted his arrows, and then the sun went down. Link had been nervous the whole day about what would happen that night. She will probably tell him it was a mistake, he assumed. And he couldn't disagree - it had been a mistake. But he had never made a mistake that made his skin feel hot like that. She didn't, though. She just sat up in bed for a long time, looking at her hands while her fingers played with the blanket in front of her. Link had lay down a while ago, but he watched her, not able to close his eyes while she was still awake. After what appeared to be a moment of courage, she got up with a confident movement, grabbing her book and dropping down to sit on the floor again between their beds.

She didn't say anything - in fact she didn't even look in Link's direction - but even so, he got out of bed to sit next to her. It was like it's body now did as it pleased, without even asking his brain first. She made an effort to open the book, but didn't actually light a candle, and Link could tell her breath was shaky. "Link." She said, like she was trying to sound firm, though it came out more like a soft exhale. "Will you kiss me again?" Zelda barely had time to finish her question, because Link's lips were already pressed against hers, and she promptly let the book fall off of her lap and onto the floor, choosing to move her hand to rest it on his jaw instead. This kiss felt more confident, like they both had accepted that this was actually happening, and it wasn't just some sort of dream.

And just like that, they had a nightly routine.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i got so much love on the last chapter it was overwhelming, i had expected a couple of people to read this and i didn't expect people to be so lovely about my writing! hopefully i havent peaked, and my writing keeps improving through the course of this fic. thank you so much for the love! :))

At night, the darkness always meant that there was a little more danger. Sleeping outside, Link had been woken up with an arrow whizzing past his face more than once. When he travelled through the night, carrying a light made him more of a target to monsters, and not having a light made it so he could barely see what was in front of him. At the stables, though, night time was peaceful. It was quiet, it was safe, and the pillows were soft. Nights were uneventful, the most exciting thing that ever happened was someone mumbling nonsense in their sleep. Now though, nights were exhilarating. Link would wait in bed - though he couldn't have slept even if he wanted too - on Zelda leaving her bed to sit on the floor. She would usually bring her book, like they were convincing themselves that they might just sit and read, but they always ended up holding each others hair and pressing their lips together. Afterwards he would try to sleep, but his lips would be burning and his body was too excited to relax. He was sure she was the same, because it took her far longer to fall asleep than it usually did these days.

This time, Zelda hadn't brought a book over, and she hadn't even sat down on the floor. Instead, she had gotten out of bed and came over to his bed. He sat up straight, and moved to stand up. Kissing a Princess was a bad idea anyway, but kissing in the same bed together seemed like an even worse idea. He didn't have time to get up though, because she had leaned down and kissed him. He couldn't not kiss her back, that ship had sailed long ago, and his hand went instinctively to her cheek. Like his body was betraying his mind again, he even moved over a little so she could come under the blanket with him. The stable beds were small and it was cramped with two people, but somehow that made it better. They hadn't ever touched each others bodies while they were kissing: he only had ran his fingers through her hair and caressed her jaw, and she had done the same to him. But now, half sitting and half laying while propped up on an elbow, she had rested her hand on his chest. Their bodies were touching as well, it was hard for them not to be in such a small bed.

Link suddenly didn't feel like much of a knight anymore. He felt like... a teenager. He _was_ a teenager, of course, and he wondered if this was how normal teenagers felt. Giddy, and shaky, and light-headed. Maybe it was the hand on his chest, or maybe the fact that they were sharing a bed, but in a moment of courage he broke away from their kiss and moved to her neck, pressing light kisses on her skin. Her body immediately moved towards him, and he had pressed his lips against her neck three times before he heard a very quiet moan escape her lips. The sound seemed to travel through him and make her heart skip a beat, and his stomach feel fiery, and then she pulled away. She had sat up straight, her back hitting the bedframe and the hand that had been on his chest was now rubbing her neck, like his lips had burned her.

He sat up too, immediately regretting pushing her too far. Zelda always initiated things since Link was always too nervous, for this exact reason. He opened his mouth to say sorry, but she had spoken before he had even had time. "It's okay." She whispered, taking a deep breath before she seemed to relax and look at him. "That just felt... Nice." She giggled after, and Link let out a relieved sigh and rubbed his face. She turned a little and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his lips once, and then chewed on her bottom lip. She did this often, usually when she wanted to ask something or was thinking hard about doing something. Link had seen it a lot, she did it before she asked him a personal question, or before she kissed him. It was dark, and he could only just make out her face, but somehow she still looked so beautiful that it almost hurt to look.

"Could you do it again?" Zelda finally whispered, and Link felt his breath hitch in his throat. He didn't hesitate, though he leaned in slower than last time, taking his time and starting at the crook of her neck, letting his lips brush on her skin before he kissed it. He liked the way her body moved a little closer to him every time he kissed a new part of her neck, and if he was sure his judgement was being clouded by her body before, it definitely was now that she had grabbed his hand and placed it on her hip, much more rough than she had ever grabbed him in the past. He moved all the way up her neck, listening to her gasps and the way she held her breath to stop herself from making a sound. Once he had kissed her earlobe, she pulled away again, putting her hand back to her neck.

Link hadn't realised how out of breath he actually was until he stopped kissing her, watching her go back to chewing on her bottom lip. He waited, knowing something was coming.

"Have you..." She started, looking away and shrugging one of her shoulders like she couldn't quite look at him while she asked. "Have you done this before?"

Becoming the youngest knight to join the royal guards, just to end up sneaking around at night and making out with a Princess? No. He hadn't done that before. But Link knew that wasn't really what she meant. A part of him wanted to lie, and say he'd never kissed any other girls and he'd never heard another girl moan when he kissed their neck, but he couldn't. He shrugged a shoulder, and nodded a little.

"I haven't. Not really, I mean I've kissed people a little bit but..." She trailed off, still not meeting his eyes. "Did you like it?" She asked, her voice a little quieter than before. A simple question, but it seemed more complicated to Link. Sure, he had liked it. Knight training was rough sometimes, especially since he seemed to get pushed harder than everyone else, and kissing a nice girl was a good stress reliever. There had only been two girls. The first was just clumsy kisses outside in the mornings, but she had moved on to another man in the village, presumably someone who would speak to her more. The second was more intense. She had liked him a lot, and he was pretty sure he had liked her too. They'd kissed, and he'd even touched her a little, but he never let her touch him back. He didn't feel like he was ready at the time, and he wasn't even sure he was ready now. When he left to live at the castle to be a royal guard, he was pretty sure he had broken her heart. But touching her didn't make him feel like how he felt now, it didn't make his heart feel funny and his stomach flip, and he hadn't even touched Zelda like that.

Link hadn't answered her question because he was so lost in thought, and Zelda had clearly taken it as a yes. "Were they pretty?" She asked, and her voice now was barely above a whisper. Were they pretty? It seemed like a weird question. He pondered it for a moment, his brow furrowing. Sure, they were pretty. He had liked the seconds girls short hair, and how it got messy when she ran her fingers through it. He shrugged a little in response to her, and she sighed.

Zelda took her other hand that had been around his neck and rested it between them, so she wasn't holding onto him anymore. Link still had his hand on her hip, and he thought about moving it, but he was pretty sure she would have brushed him away if she didn't want his hand there anymore. "Did Mipha heal your side? I mean, I know she did, obviously. That's why you left, but..." She shifted uncomfortably, and her hand had started rubbing her neck again. "Do you think she is pretty?"

He had thought her previous question was weird, and he thought this one was even weirder. Link was sure Mipha was objectively pretty to almost anyone, but he was fairly sure that wasn't what she wanted to hear. He didn't answer, instead he moved his hand from her hip to put his fingers on her jaw, gently moving her head to look at him. She was chewing her lip again, and Link just looked at her, a confused look on his face.

Eventually, after waiting what seemed like a long time, she eventfully relented. "It's just... Do you think I'm pretty?"

Link stopped for a moment, and then laughed, rubbing his face in disbelief. So that's what this whole interrogation was about. It seemed like it was obvious she was pretty, considering people serenaded her wherever she went, and always had men asking for her hand. Zelda shoved him gently, looking exasperated. "I'm serious, do you really think I am?" She said, looking at him hopefully. Link nodded, taking his hand away from his face to tuck her hair behind her ear.

She sighed once more, like his response wasn't convincing to her. "I know my clothes are nice sometimes but I don't want you to think about my clothes and if _they're_ pretty, I mean my face, and my body, I guess. And I know I'm the Princess but there is a lot of girls around and maybe you don't notice but they look at you, and..." She was still talking, but Link wasn't really listening anymore. He wanted to tell her that her hair was probably now his favourite colour, and her lips always looked good even though sometimes they were a little swollen from kissing, and that the way she smiled at him sometimes made him feel like he had to lay down, and how he must have been someone great in a past life for his job to revolve around looking at her all the time. He wanted to say he even thought her hands were beautiful, and the way she carried herself was something to be admired, and that he could probably stare into her eyes all day if she would let him. But words didn't come like that to him.

Talking didn't feel very natural to him. Sometimes when he spoke, he had forgotten what his voice sounded like. Even so, he took a breath and licked his lips, closing his eyes momentarily before he interrupted her rambling:

"I think you're very pretty." His voice was low, and quiet, and he silently cursed himself for not being more poetic, but she had stopped talking and looked back at him anyway, her eyes wide.

"Really?" She breathed, and after Link nodded once more, she wrapped her hands back around his neck and kissed him. The roughness of it surprised him; it had knocked him back into a laying position, and Zelda took the opportunity, breaking away from their kiss to climb on top and straddle him, her legs on either side of his waist. Link would have been embarrassed, because he knew she must have felt his hardness just under her, but he didn't get time to even think about it because she had grabbed his hands and put them on her hips. He couldn't help but groan, and sat up a little to meet her kiss half way, their lips crashing together. They hadn't ever been so rough before, and Link was usually scared to hold her tight in case he accidently hurt her, but when he tightened his grip on her hips she moaned into his mouth - which almost made him feel dizzy. Zelda leaned forwards to push him back down onto the mattress, her hands forcefully grabbing his tunic to push it up to his neck, running her fingers down his chest, and then back up. His skin felt like it was on fire wherever her fingers touched, and before he knew it he had slid his hands under her top to rest on the bare skin of her hips. She gasped and arched her back, sitting up a little and looking down at Link's chest. She ran her fingers down his chest once more, though this time dragged her nails a little, and Link's head fell back onto the pillow with another groan, his eyes closing. Then her fingers reached his trousers, and he was suddenly snapped abruptly back into reality.

He opened his eyes again and grabbed her hands, stopping her going any further. They looked at each other, their chests rising and falling in time with their fast breaths. Link finally came to his senses, just a little. They were in a stable, with people sleeping in close proximity to them, while they had been moaning and breathing heavily. On top of that, someone could wake up and see the _Princess_ on top of him, his tunic exposing his entire torso. Zelda had clearly had the same thought, and she let out a breathy laugh and took her hands away, brushing her hair away from her face. "You're right." She murmured, slowly moving off of his lap to lay down next to him. Instead of going back to her own bed, like Link had expected and like she had done all the other times, she just wrapped his arms around him and lay her head on his chest, putting one of her legs lazily over him. Link was about to protest - they couldn't sleep together like _this_ , what if someone woke up and saw them in the morning?

"I'll leave before I fall asleep." Zelda mumbled - it was like she could read his mind sometimes. Link doubted she would actually leave before she fell asleep, because it only took a few minutes for her breathing to go back to normal and her body to relax, but he didn't move her. He just let her fall asleep, playing with her hair as she did, and carefully manoeuvred himself out from under her once he was sure she was sleeping soundly. He silently prayed no one would notice they had swapped beds in the morning, and lay down in the bed she had been in. Although, he didn't fall asleep for a while after that, because every time he closed his eyes all he could see was her arching her back on top of him, and the way her hair moved when she tilted her head back.

* * *

Zelda had woken up expecting her head to still be resting on Link's, and was sorely disappointed to realise she was by herself, bundled up in a blanket. She closed her eyes again for a moment. Of course he wasn't, because he couldn't. Did sneaking around make it... More exciting? She thought it did, at least a little, and then had a horrible thought that maybe Link was only kissing her because it was _exciting_ to sneak around with a Princess. The thought hurt, and she decided not to dwell on it so early in the morning. Thinking back to the night before, she already had a blush on her face. Had she really done that? It didn't seem like her - she wasn't that confident. But it had been her, because she remembered how it felt to sit on his lap. She blushed even harder when she thought about how it had ended, feeling embarrassed and a little silly. What would she even had done if she had taken his trousers off? She didn't know what she was doing, and she had never done anything like that in her life... Where had that confidence even come from? As the thought crossed her mind, so did a phrase. _I think you're very pretty._ Had he really said that, or had she just dreamt it? Had she just imagined what she wanted to hear? It seemed like all she had was questions for herself, and she probably would have had many more if she had not been interrupted in her thoughts.

"Princess!" Someone had shouted, and she sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes. Oh, wait. That was her. She was the Princess. She quickly ran her fingers through her hair to calm her bed head, and pulled the blanket over herself. She wasn't indecent, by any means, but it still felt wrong to be spoken to in bed without covering herself. The person shouted again, and she looked around, and realised the voice wasn't getting closer because Link was blocking his path to her with a firm hand on the mans chest. Even though the man was taller, he seemed to be struggling a fair amount against Link's arm, and it almost made her giggle, but she didn't want to be rude.

"Let him go, please. It's alright." She called over, and Link looked around at her before letting the man pass. "Good morning, sir. What c-"

"Princess." The man had cut her off, falling to his knees before her bed, clasping his hands together. "It's an honour."

Zelda was a little taken aback, though collected herself quickly. It wasn't unusual for this type of reaction, but it surprised her every time. "Well, you're very welcome. You don't have to kneel, though. It's quite alright-"

"Princess." The man had interjected again. "I will retrieve the master sword, and have your hand in marriage."

"Oh, well that's great! There will be a ceremony at the Korok Forest for anyone who is willing to try and pull the master sword o-"

"And have your hand in marriage." The man repeated, his hands still clasped so tight that his knuckles were white.

Zelda blushed, and nervously tucked her hair behind her ear. "R-Right, well. That's very sweet of you... Um, what did you say your name was again?"

"It's Iton, Princess."

"Iton, thank you. That's very sweet, but-"

"Once I retrieve the master sword, I will pull out a ring and get down on my knees for you where I stand."

Zelda blushed even more, and caught a glimpse of Link. He was standing just behind him, and had a smirk on his face, though when they caught eyes he had to look away, composing himself so he didn't laugh. Zelda couldn't help but smile, just a little, even thought it was highly unprofessional. "Again, that's very sweet, but it won't be necessary. However, the ceremony at the Korok forest will be..." She trailed off, looking around for her bag that had the a bit of paper with the date of the ceremony on it, and remembered that she was in the wrong bed, and her bags weren't next to her. "Sorry, you have caught me unprepared, although the stable owner has a copy of the-"

"You're right, forgive me for speaking to you like this." Iton said, getting up and walking briskly away.

"No, it's okay! I just..." Zelda trailed off, since he was already gone, and she slumped in her sitting position, covering her smile by holding her hands over her face. She allowed herself to giggle just a little bit, and then grabbed the small pillow from the bed and threw it at Link. He caught it before it hit him, of course. Curse him and his good coordination. "You almost made me laugh." She hissed at him, though she had a grin on her face and so did he.

They read that morning as well, though she wasn't enjoying this book as much as the last one. Maybe that was because the other book had lead to them kissing, so nothing else could really compare. It was comforting to have a routine. Of course, she had a routine at the castle, but that was Princess Zelda, not Zelda. She had dragged him further away from the stable than they usually went to read this time, only because she wanted to make sure it was private. She was resting her head against Link's shoulder, and she always noticed how he was very careful not to move while she rested against him. She lifted her head to look at him to see if he was finished reading, and he gave her a small smile to signify that he was. She lifted her hand to turn the page, but last minute decided to put her fingers to his chin, and move his head so she could kiss him gently. It was a quick kiss, but clearly unexpected, because Link had blushed furiously and looked around to make sure no one would see. Link was always so stoic, so cold and collected, and she liked that she could make him flustered.

They didn't stay for lunch, mostly because Zelda didn't want another awkward encounter with Iton, though she still counted how many arrows Link had in his bag before they left.


	7. Chapter 7

Zelda wouldn't say she hated the snow, but she would say that she liked the heat much more. The snow was unrelenting, and sometimes she wondered how Link even knew where he was going because she couldn't see more than ten feet in front of her. Her hat covered her ears, but the cold was still starting to sting them, and her fingers seemed frozen in their position on her horses reins. Her whole body seemed to be shivering, but she didn't want to say anything. Link always seemed to handle everything so much better than her, and she didn't want to seem weak. Even though, right now, she felt it. All she wanted was to be in front of a fire with her eyes closed and her arms outstretched towards the warmth. Maybe if she imagined it hard enough she would truly start to feel it.

She had closed her eyes, willing her body to imagine that she was in a bath of steamy warm water, and when she opened them she saw that Link was holding an elixir out to her in his gloved hand. "How much further?" She asked, her voice coming out in a huge puff of smoke. By the look he had given her she assumed the next stable was much further than she wanted to think about, and she took the elixir from him. She hated the taste of most elixirs, but when she drank it and prepared for an awful taste to fill her mouth, she was pleasantly surprised that it didn't taste of anything. That was, until she felt it burning down her throat and she coughed, rubbing her chest in hopes to make the liquid go down quicker. She grimaced, but she did admit she suddenly felt much warmer. "Thank you." She said, though she doubt he had even heard her over the sound of the wind.

Their horses were struggling, though Zelda's seemed to be having much more trouble pushing itself through the deep snow. She felt bad for it, because she knew that if she had to walk through the snow she would be struggling too, but she also couldn't help but wish they could go faster. One silver lining was that the sky had stopped blasting snow onto them, and now there was just a slow, steady trickle of snowflakes that fell onto the ground. Link had looked back to her to see if she was alright, like he had been doing at least twice every hour now, and she nodded back to him in response. They were much behind schedule, she could tell because the sun was starting to hide behind the tall trees ahead of them. She opened her mouth to ask for maybe the fourth time how much further it would be, and then she heard a _whoosh_ through the air just in front of her.

She couldn't tell what it was, but Link's horse had crumpled to the ground, throwing him into the snow as it did. She heard the sound again, and she realised it was an arrow as it flew past her and lodged itself into the snow. Before she could even try to calm her horse it had bucked her off, and she landed on her back, hitting her wrist against a rock. She only had a moment to silently thank the Goddesses she hadn't hit her head on it, because Link had already stood up, his sword in hand, to wade through the snow into a tight bundle of trees that obscured her vision. Zelda sat up just in time for her to see her horse running off into the distance, trying to buck off the bags that were hooked to the saddle. She wondered why she hadn't seen Link's horse run off too, and then it dawned on her when she looked straight ahead of her that his horse was laying on the ground, unmoving, with an arrow in it's head.

It was like she was frozen in place even though the elixir was still warming her from the inside out. She wasn't sure if she could even bring herself to stand up, but she didn't need too, because Link had come back, his tunic dripping with dark purple blood. The monster blood on him was still warm, because it let off steam now that it was exposed to the cool air. He pulled her up into a standing position and brushed some of the snow off of her, lifting her arms and twisting her body around to see if she was bleeding. She tried to push his hands away and tell him she was fine, and ask what happened, but all she could manage was a small whimper. Satisfied that she didn't have any wounds, Link turned himself away from her and went to his horse, unclipping his bags from the saddle that was still on it's back. He threw his things to the side while Zelda watched, and she wondered how he could be so calm.

Link leaned down and grabbed the arrow that was lodged into the horses head, and roughly yanked it out. Zelda gasped and covered her eyes with her hands, though she could still hear the horrible sound it made. She slowly lowered her hands, letting out a shaky breath. She had assumed he wanted to keep the arrow, but he had tossed it away from him where it landed in the snow - the wet, red tip of it glistening glaringly bright in the white snow. She watched him drop into the snow on his knees just in front of his horses neck, taking off his hat and his gloves and putting them down gently beside him. She wanted to ask what he was doing until she realised he was _bowing_ to it, and her heart suddenly ached. She swallowed the lump in her throat, clasping her hands over her heart. She debated going over to him, maybe to hug him, but all she seemed to be able to do was watch. His snow covered hair had fallen in front of his face, and she could see his shoulders moving up and down slowly with big, deep breaths.

He fell forwards and rested his forehead against his horses fur, his arm draped over its neck, and suddenly Zelda realised she was crying. Tears streamed down her face - they were warm and stung her freezing cold cheeks. She scrunched her eyes closed and didn't feel so warm anymore, she felt very, very cold. She opened her eyes when she heard Link boots crunching through the snow towards her, though her vision was blurry from crying. He reached out and wiped the tears away from under her eyes - his hands were warm compared to her skin. "I'm sorry." She sobbed. She hadn't meant it to come out as a sob, but her tears were now totally out of her control. She took a deep breath to calm herself down, but it was useless because Link had pulled her into a hug, and she wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face into his chest. Sobs seemed to rock her whole body, but the sounds were muffled by his thick tunic.

It took her a couple of minutes to calm down. Link's hand was on the back of her head, and she finally pulled away, roughly wiping her tears. She felt very foolish - she should have been comforting _him_ , and _he_ should be the one crying, but he was holding her instead. She put her hands on his chest to push him out of the embrace, since she didn't think she would be able to talk without her voice sounding teary. Link seemed to understand, though, because he took a few steps to pick up his hat from the ground. He shook it to get off the worst of the snow before he put it on, and then did the same with his gloves. He picked up his bags, slinging them over both shoulders, before starting to walk towards the tracks in the snow Zelda's horse had left when it ran away. He looked back at her after a few steps, and she snapped back into reality and started to follow him, not able to bear the thought of looking back at his horse that was slowly being engulfed by the falling snow.

* * *

They had followed the horses tracks in the snow for at least an hour and a half before they found it, wandering aimlessly through the trees. Now though, Link was in a predicament. There was three options. The horse couldn't carry both of them and their bags, so he could leave his things and ride the horse to the next stable with Zelda, and probably make it just after nightfall. Second, he could put Zelda on the horse, with both of their things, and walk next to them. It would be much slower, and it meant they would have to be travelling through the night, and by the feel of the air he was sure there would be a storm when the sun went down - so he crossed that option from his list immediately. His last option; he tell Zelda where she needed to go and leave her to travel there alone. She would be there in time for sunset, but she would be... alone.

His shoulders were sore from carrying his things through the snow. Zelda had offered, many times, to carry some of the items but he had refused every time. Focusing on the pain in his body made him less likely to dwell on what just happened. He thought about his options for a minute, and then dropped his bags into the snow. He would be left with his sword, shield, bow, arrows, and the warm clothes he was wearing. He wouldn't have any armour, or any clothes to keep him cool when they travelled to warmer regions. No sleeping pad in case he had to stay in the wilderness overnight, and no torch. He shifted through one of the bags to stuff four elixirs in his pockets in case of emergencies, and mounted her horse. He held his hand out to her to help her up, but she took a step back. "What are you doing?" Her brow furrowed when she looked over at his things. "Why would you..." She trailed off, like she understood now.

Link noticed she had started shaking from the cold now, and he didn't have anymore elixirs for that. "I won't let you abandon your things." She said, trying to sound defiant. Link gave her an exasperated look, looking up to the sky like he was praying she would stop being so stubborn, just for one moment. He got off of the horse and snapped a stick from a nearby tree, and knelt on the ground. With a sweeping motion of his arm, he levelled out the snow so he could draw a path for Zelda with the stick. Where they were, the stable she needed to find, and the trail that she would take to get there. She stood beside him and looked at his crude map, and looked at him when he nodded in the direction of her horse. It seemed to have dawned on her what he was telling her to do, and she shook her head furiously.

"I can't find it myself. You can't leave me all alone out here." She whispered, her nose and cheeks bright red from the cold. Link gestured to the sky and she followed his hand, the sky now turning into an array of oranges and reds while the sun went down. "You're not thinking straight." She looked back to him. "We need to find shelter."

Link put his face in his hands, holding back a groan. _The stable, Zelda._ He thought bitterly. The stable was the shelter that she could get too if she wasn't so damn obstinate all the time. She picked up some of his bags out of the snow and looked at him, her stare stubborn even though every other part of her was shaking. He sighed, a deep, long sigh, and picked up the rest of his things. He took his bags from her as well, putting them over onto her horse and gesturing for her to mount it. She refused at first, but after walking for only a few minutes, the cold must have gotten to her and she gave in, climbing onto the horse so her legs weren't knee deep in snow anymore.

Link only knew one place that was close enough to camp in before it got dark, and by the time they got there the snow was falling so hard that it was hard to see the cave opening right in front of them. He had gone in first, his sword ready, just in case there had been any creatures taking shelter inside but there was only a lone bird that flew out in a panic when Link entered. It hadn't taken him long to get a fire going, and he'd wrapped Zelda in her blanket and his own blanket, despite her saying that she wasn't even that cold. He knew it was a lie, because he could see her trying to keep herself from shaking.

No camping, no bugs, no plants, and no harsh weather. Wasn't that what the King had told him? He was going against half of those orders right now, and Link had never not obeyed an order before in his life. Some of their food had been lost when her horse ran away, but the little bit that was left he had made into a meal for her. He'd eaten a mouthful, but his stomach didn't seem to be able to handle any food. Now that they were safe, Zelda had stopped shaking, and his clothes were dry, he suddenly felt... Awful. Much worse than he had when he was getting battered by the elements outside.

His guardian after his father had died was called Erish. He was a tall, spindly man that had deep frown lines in his forehead. Erish didn't speak much either, and when they were in each others company they would sit in a heavy silence. Knight training had started the first day Link had met him. He had fallen asleep in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar house, and been awoken just hours later to practice outside in the cold with a sword that was far too heavy. The first time Erish had taken Link camping, he had woken up to find the fire had been smothered, his guardian was gone and he had no food or water. His blanket was even gone, the only thing he was left with was a sword, a bow, and exactly three arrows. He had wasted those precious arrows trying to hunt for meat, and had missed every time. He had eaten mushrooms he'd found growing at the side of some trees, and slept without a fire for warmth next to a lake. A monster had snuck up to him during the night and he'd broken his wrist during the struggle; and that was the first living thing he had ever killed. He'd had nightmares about it for a while afterwards, but once he had killed more creatures than he could count on his fingers, the nightmares went away. It had taken him a week to get home, starving and thirsty, and Erish hadn't said anything.

Link saw death all the time. Things died, they decayed into the ground, and the grass would grow a little greener were it had fallen - like the soil was happy for the extra nutrients. People died, and time always moved on. When his father didn't come home one day, Link had expected time to stop, but the sun still went down at night and came back up in the morning. People went to work, they ate and laughed with each other, and he couldn't understand how everyone could act so normal when he'd lost something so big.

He never knew how his father had died. The knight that told him he wouldn't be coming home again had tried to tell him, and Link had covered his ears and ran away. If he never knew what happened, maybe he could imagine that it hadn't happened at all, and that eventually his father would open the door and give him a hug. Erish had quickly figured out that Link didn't want to hear about his father, and it soon became a punishment. If Link wasn't fast enough with a sword, or accurate enough with his arrows, he would start to talk, quietly and calmly. He never got the chance to finish the story, because Link always managed to hit the target before he did. Once Link was accepted into the royal knight training, it had seemed like paradise in comparison. Erish had died too, while Link was living in the castle, but he hadn't attended the funeral.

Greif came in waves. Sometimes they were little ripples - the unrest in the sea just starting. A father would lift his son onto a horse to take him hunting, and Link would feel a twinge of pain in his chest. A mother would tell a soft, sweet story while tucking her child into bed, and he would get an ache in his heart. Sometimes, there was a rouge wave. It would come out of nowhere, while he was laying in bed or warming his hands over a fire, and he would swallow it back down like a bad taste in his mouth. Other times, the ground would shift completely under the water and the waves would come in tsunamis, crashing down and throwing him to the bottom of the ocean, the water battering him against the sharp rocks. He could barely see the surface, and every time he got close another wave would pummel him straight back down. It would fill his lungs, the salt stinging his wounds, and all he could do was close his eyes and stay submerged, his body striking the rocks over and over until the water calmed. Finally, he would float to the top, bruised and bloody. The first breath once he reached the surface would hurt, like a baby inhaling for the first time, and the taste of the water would stay stuck in his throat for days.

He hadn't had a wave in a long time - maybe he had been too busy. Maybe he had been too happy lately. But he couldn't help but think this was some sort of punishment from the Gods for being a bad knight. Link brought his knees close to his chest, holding his legs and closing his eyes to prepare for the incoming tidal wave. Zelda had sat down quietly behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting the side of her face against his back. And for the first time, between the surges of water thrashing him against the rocks, he felt like he could gulp a breath of fresh air.

They sat like that for a long time, the only noise was the howling wind just outside of their shelter. That was, until Zelda eventually spoke. "You're very brave." She said, taking her arms away from him and moving to sit next to him, holding her hands out to the fire to warm them. "I'm sorry." She said when Link didn't answer, her voice soft. "I know you..." She trailed off, chewing on her bottom lip. "What was her name?"

Truthfully, his horse hadn't had a name. Link hadn't bought it, so it didn't come with a name, and he didn't see the point in giving it one. Wild horses didn't have names, and he never would have called on it anyway. He'd found the horse, starving and skinny at the bottom of a ravine. He pitied it and gave it food, and then it had followed him around. He'd thrown food down a hill to convince it to leave, but it had continued to stick around anyway. Eventually he had gotten used to it's company when he travelled, and once he had bought a saddle he never left without it again.

Link didn't answer, but he doubted Zelda had actually expected one from him. She asked him questions frequently, but she didn't seem to mind she never got a response from him. "Maybe we could go back tomorrow, and bury her." She said, taking her hands back away from the fire. Link appreciated the sentiment, but he shook his head. The ground would be frozen solid, and it would be a waste of energy. He didn't mind that much - it seemed natural for a wild horse to die and it's body to feed the animals and birds that came across it. Zelda nodded slowly, like she wasn't sure what to say. "Okay." She finally breathed, shifting over a little so their legs were touching and she reached out to hold his hand.

He took it, like he always did. The rational voice in his head always told him he could stop, and go back to being a normal knight. The voice told him he couldn't guard a Princess properly if his heart was always yearning for her, but he couldn't bring himself to end it. Whenever he did think about it, Zelda would smile at him and all he could think about was how warm she made him feel. He looked down at their hands, and then his brow furrowed. He took her hand in both of his, rolling the fabric of her sleeve up a little.

"It's fine." Zelda sighed, but she didn't take her hand away. There was a small gash in her skin, with bruises slowly forming around it. "Link, it's fine." She repeated. "It's just a cut, it doesn't even need-" She sighed again, because Link had already gotten up to rummage through his things for a bandage. She sat patiently while he cleaned it and wrapped it, only wincing once, though he could tell it hurt more than she wanted to let on. "You don't need to do this every time I get a tiny cut." She murmured, though despite her words she still leaned forwards to kiss his forehead once.

"Will you sleep with me tonight?" She whispered, back to biting her bottom lip. They hadn't slept next to each other since Zelda had fallen asleep in his bed weeks ago - it's not like they ever had the privacy to do such things. "I mean, not like _that_ , obviously. Unless you want to of course, but-" She blushed, and Link liked how she always rambled when she was embarrassed. She stopped talking once he nodded, and she smiled a little. "Thanks."

The voice in his head was there again, telling him he shouldn't be laying down with his arms around her, because that was just going to make his feelings worse. The voice could have been speaking into a void of nothingness though, because Link didn't listen to it anyway. He always thought she couldn't look any more beautiful, and then she would do something new that made her look ethereal. This time, it was her head resting on the same pillow as his head was on, looking at him with tired eyes and a small smile. "Will you stay with me until the morning?" She whispered, resting a hand on the side of his neck. He nodded, and that answer seemed to satisfy her because she closed her eyes. Their bodies had never been so pressed together before this, their legs tangled together, and it made him feel... Fuzzy, for lack of a better word. Zelda had fallen asleep with her hand still on his neck, and he couldn't help but watch her sleep for just a few more minutes until he finally closed his eyes as well. He could feel her breathing against him, and he noticed that even in her sleep, she would press a little closer to him if he moved even just a little.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i live in beautiful, snowy scotland and at the time of me posting this chapter (the 25th of january), it's burns night! so happy burns night everybody! im not a fan of haggis, and we are in a lockdown at the moment, so there was no burns night celebrations this year. i will leave you with a common scots phrase for burns night: dheagh shlainte! - to explain it roughly, it means i will drink to your good health! i hope everyone is staying safe, and thank you so much for reading! :))

Zelda had dreamt of having a husband since she was very little. That's what Princesses did, anyway. They got married, they had children, and then... She didn't really know what they did after that. She hadn't really thought that far. She imagined someone would turn up one day and they'd instantly fall in love, and she'd know he was the one immediately. Of course, that hadn't happened yet. Her father had told her she just had to be patient, because one day someone's soul would ache for her. She didn't really believe that, because now it seemed a little too poetic to be true. Did Link's soul ache for her? She doubted it.

What she hadn't ever dreamt of, was waking up in a freezing cold cave, afraid to look at the ceiling too closely for fear there would be many, many spiders. She expected to wake up alone, and look over to see Link cooking or cleaning his weapons like always. It wasn't like it was his fault they couldn't ever sleep in the same bed, but that didn't make her any less annoyed by it. However, she had woken up by a hand gently brushing her hair away from her face. She pushed herself closer to him, her arms close to her chest and sandwiched between their bodies, not ready to open her eyes yet. "How long have you been awake?" She mumbled, though she only answer he got was his hand resting on the middle of her back. "You should have woken me up." She was still tired, but it seemed like a waste being asleep while she was being held in his arms. 

She finally opened her eyes, expecting her eyes to have to adjust to bright light, but the sun was only barely peeking through the cave opening, bathing everything in an orange glow. "Are you okay?" She whispered, manoeuvring her hand so she could reach up and touch her fingers to his forehead, tracing along his eyebrow and down to his jaw. Link leaned into the embrace before he nodded, and she met his eyes. "Can I kiss you?"

Link had smiled and nodded like it was a silly question, but she wouldn't have been upset if he had said no considering he'd just seen his horse with an arrow through it's head. Maybe that wasn't the worse thing he had ever seen, maybe that was a walk in the park to him. She wasn't sure if that was the worst thing she had ever seen, but that was definitely up there. It occurred to her that she didn't actually know what kind of things he'd seen - she didn't actually know very much about him at all. Was that why she liked him so much? That was a scary thought. Why did she always have to think about these things so early in the morning? The thought was gone from her mind as soon as she leaned forwards and pressed her lips against his, his skin somehow cold and warm at the same time. 

As much as she liked waking up next to him, the downside was that there was no fire going anymore, and it was freezing. She was pretty hungry too, but she didn't think they actually had enough food for both of them to eat. She didn't doubt he would cook anyway - she could imagine it already. She'd eat half of it and give him the other half, but he'd refuse to take it and she'd leave it on the ground next to him but he still wouldn't eat it, and eventually she would relent and eat the rest because she didn't want it to go to waste. That surprised her - maybe she did know him better than she had first thought. 

The cold air creeped through her clothes, sending a shiver up her spine that spread through her whole body. Link promptly pulled away from the kiss to get up, and Zelda whined like a child that was being told no. "Not yet." She said, almost desperately, wrapping her arms around his neck so he couldn't leave without pulling her up as well. "Five more minutes. Please, Link." She was prepared to beg, but she didn't need too, because he had already sighed and given in. She didn't know the next time they'd be able to be like this during the day, and even during the night depending on where they were. 

She leaned forwards to kiss him again, tangling her hands in his hair that had fallen out of it's ponytail through the night. The kiss started soft, and gentle, but Link soon made it deeper. Now the back of her head had hit the pillow, his arms on either side of her shoulders, and he was pressing his body against hers. She gasped against his lips, and couldn't help but push herself up against him, any thoughts of the hunger or cold she felt suddenly gone in an instant. She could practically feel how strong he was how he shifted himself with his arms to kiss her harder, and then he was gone. She took in a breath, letting her hands rest over her stomach. She kept her eyes closed, listening to him move to start a new fire over the old charred wood. "I'm not cold anymore." She hummed, a smile on her face. Link didn't answer, but somehow she could tell he was smiling anyway. 

\---

"So, he can't talk?"

Zelda paused her conversation, annoyed that she had been interrupted again. Talking to Revali sometimes seemed like such a chore, especially when he didn't seem to be listening to a thing she was saying. She glanced over her shoulder to look at Link, who was standing expressionless as always. "Of course he can talk." She sighed, before continuing. "Now, I know that you say that you'll be able to pull the sword, and I have full faith in you, even if-"

"Why isn't he talking then?" 

She sighed again, a more exasperated sigh this time. "Maybe because you are speaking about someone who is standing right there, perfectly able to hear. It's quite rude." She said, not giving him a moment to interrupt her once more. "I have full faith in you." She repeated. "However, if you happen to know anyone else who is willing to try..." She trailed off, because Revali had brushed off her words with a wave of his wing. 

"We both know that I could fly over there right now and get the sword, and be back here before sunset." He said, and Zelda could tell that whatever he said next she wasn't going to want to hear. "What I want to know, is why the King has sent his beloved daughter from the safety of the castle, to traverse the lands to recruit people?"

Zelda resisted chewing on her bottom lip, and forced herself to speak as confidently as she could. "Well, my father thought that-"

"That making you do this personally would put a little more pressure on you?" He talked over her, and Zelda suddenly felt much smaller than she usually did when he towered over her. "That making you see how many people are willing to risk injury to retrieve the sword for you might make you realise how serious this is? That forcing you out of your comfortable, velvet padded throne to see how many lives depend on you may finally awaken your power?"

She swallowed and didn't answer, thought she wouldn't have had a chance to reply anyway, because he continued: "Mmm. I thought as much. I do hope you stay for dinner." And with that, he had flapped his wings and soared high into the air, leaving Zelda to try and hold her hair down from the wind that had messed it up so quickly. 

The last few stables she visited had seemed like a blur. Revali was right - things were starting to seem very real now. A very big part of her hoped that no one would be able to get the sword. If there was no hero, then maybe it would be okay that she didn't have any power. Thinking about it made her stomach feel queasy, and she took a deep breath to calm her body. "Well." She said, clearing her throat and smoothing down her clothes. "He did invite us for dinner, it would be rude to decline." 

The journey since the cave had gone smoothly. When things went too smoothly, she always knew that something bad was going to happen very soon. First Link had broken some ribs, then she had gotten sick, and then she'd seen his horse die in front of her. This time, it had been Revali's harsh words, which somehow made her feel just as bad as the other things - mostly because he had been correct. She wondered for a moment what the next thing would be, but ultimately decided she would cross that bridge when she came to it. She started walking up the many, many steps that were in front of her. She didn't look back at Link, because she knew he would be following her anyway, and also because she didn't want him to give her a sympathetic look. 

Zelda had always loved Rito Village, she thought it was beautiful. She would sit and gaze over the landscape from a wooden ledge, though she tried not to look down too much. Sometimes snow would fall slowly, dancing around in the wind, and she would imagine what it would feel like to be able to fly herself. She looked forward to the grand food they always served her, the comfortable pillows and blankets, the lovely music that always seemed to be playing, and the clothes that she thought looked a little silly on her, but suited the Rito people perfectly. She couldn't think of any other place she would like to spend the night, party because it was perfect for distracting her from thinking about her lack of power further. 

\---

It had taken Link a very long time to figure out which horse he wanted from the stable. None of them seemed right, and he almost felt bad picking one over the other, even though he knew that was silly. Eventually he'd just shrugged and let Zelda pick one, and she'd happily obliged. Oka, she had named it lovingly. Link thought it was sweet, but he doubted it would ever come to learn it's own name since he wouldn't call on it. The horse was stronger, bigger, faster and surprisingly more obedient, but he couldn't help but feel like it wasn't the same. It didn't matter though, because it wasn't like he could walk everywhere on foot. He was sure he'd get used to it, even if it took a long time. 

This was what he had been thinking about over dinner. That, and how the Rito could possibly make sitting on a pillow on the floor so damn comfortable, until his thoughts were interrupted by Zelda's voice: "Will you tell my father?" She asked, and Link looked over, confused. He quickly realised she was referring to the glasses of wine that had been put in front of them on the floor. He scoffed a little - if he told her father half of what him and Zelda did he wouldn't have a head anymore. 

Link had drank alcohol before. Erish always seemed to have a strong liquor in his hand, and Link realised if he drank a little of it before bed when he was injured, he fell asleep much quicker. Other knights had snuck it into their sleeping quarters at the castle sometimes - they'd huddle around a fire and share it out between them, and then groggily continue their training the next day. Now, he had less than a year until he was old enough to technically be allowed to drink. He supposed that was close enough, and it would be rude to decline something that had been offered to him so kindly. He had never appreciated the taste of any alcohol, though when he lifted the small glass to take a sip of the dark red wine in front of him he was surprised that it was very sweet. Zelda had watched him take a sip and then done so herself, like she didn't trust that he wouldn't have told the King if he hadn't done it first. 

It always surprised him how hospitable the Rito were, but was quickly reminded as whenever his glass had gotten even close to looking empty, it had been refilled swiftly. He preferred dinner here than the castle, as it was much more informal. It reminded him of sitting around the fire with old friends, instead of curt, polite talk around a table carved out of what he assumed was a very expensive stone. Dinner had lasted a long time, and the sun had been down for at least a few hours by the time it was only him and Zelda left, surrounded by dirty plates and bowls and fuzzy from the alcohol. "We should go too." Zelda said, though Link was shocked to see she grabbed a half empty bottle of wine as she stood up. He gave her a wide-eyed look, and she giggled a little. "They won't notice." She said confidently, slowly backing out of the room where they had eaten, and then promptly turning around and taking off up the stairs. Link looked at her for a moment, and then glanced around to make absolutely sure no one had seen before he fumbled to pick up his sword and ran after her. 

There were a lot of stairs before they got to the room they had given Zelda to sleep in. Link had been the first to trip on the stairs, which was very unlike him. Zelda had thought so too, since she had stifled a giggle, and then immediately after, tripped as well. They had both had to stop to cover their laughs for fear of waking anyone up. They looked away from each other to compose themselves, but as soon as they caught eyes again they had giggled like small children all over again. Link was grateful it was safe here, because he doubted he could have fought any monsters if he couldn't even walk up some steps properly. The Rito weren't very private people, but they also understood that it was different for Hylians, and had built a room for any important people that came to visit. It had a door, and plants growing over the gaps in the support beams. It was still easy to see in, but it was high up enough that not many would have been able to look in anyway. Link had been given a bed in the inn, but neither of them had even thought about going their separate ways yet. 

The two of them had ended up sitting on the floor, directly in front of a large gap between the plant vines that allowed them to look outside and watch the dark, quiet landscape that seemed so far away from them in the moment. Zelda had sat down first, setting the bottle on the floor next to her with a small clink, and Link had sat behind her, his legs on either side of hers. He had even put his arm around her waist without hesitation - he wasn't sure if it was the alcohol that made him so confident to show affection, or the fact that they had barely had time to even look in each others direction lately. 

He rested his chin on her shoulder to look where she was looking, wondering how it would feel to look over the world and know that he would soon rule it. He couldn't imagine it, but he did take in the beauty of the scenery at night and how peaceful it looked from up high. Zelda put her hand over his that was resting on her stomach, and was tracing small patterns into the back of his hand with her fingers. They were each taking turns to take a swig of liquid from the bottle, which was very uncivilised, but it didn't seem to bother her. "It's so beautiful from up here." She said quietly, like her voice would disturb the tranquil hills in front of them. He nodded in agreement, and she let herself lean back fully against him. Link always thought she looked so light and delicate, and now he could feel it, her body feeling weightless even though he was fully supporting it. 

Zelda was silent for a long time, and Link assumed she was just taking in the terrain, but then he realised she was chewing on her bottom lip again. He gave her one, gentle shake to get her to say whatever it was that he knew she was thinking about saying. She took a drink from the bottle, like she needed it for courage. "Have you ever done it?" She asked quickly, her eyes still settled comfortably in front of her. Link smiled a little and moved his head to look at her without an answer, and she blushed. "Don't make me say it." She said, nudging his body with her elbow, her fingers fiddling with the bottle in her hand. "You know what I mean." 

He thought about saying yes - it sounded a lot cooler than saying he almost had, but he'd been too scared. Scared of what, he didn't know, but he'd never managed to force himself to feel ready. He eventually shook his head, and she looked over to him, like that wasn't the answer she had expected. "Really?" She handed the bottle back to Link, and he held it in his hand. "I haven't either." She fell silent again, but Link already knew that wasn't the last of her questions - it never was. It was like she was always filled to the brim with inquires. About his life, his parents, what he was feeling. Sometimes he wanted to tell her, but the words wouldn't reach his mouth whenever the urge came. 

She turned her head slightly to kiss him, and he could feel the slow breath she released through her nose as she did. She was still blushing as she looked straight ahead again, her hand that had been drawing patterns on his skin was now still. "You've..." She paused, closing her eyes momentarily to find the right words. "You've done things, though." Link wasn't sure what things meant, and she could clearly tell, because she continued talking. "I mean... You've touched girls. Not like you're touching me now, in other ways." 

He had actually only touched one girl, but that didn't seem like a mistake that needed corrected in the moment. He slowly nodded, and he expected her to pull away and say that she didn't want to be with someone who had touched someone else before, or maybe get upset that she might not be as pretty as them, but she did neither. Instead, the blush rose on her cheeks and she took the bottle from Link to take one, last drink before handing it back to him. "Well..." She started, and Link lifted the bottle to his lips to prepare for the worst. "I..." She stopped again, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before forcing her voice to sound bold. "I want you to touch me like that too." 

Link's body froze, and he was sure his mouth would have been hanging open too if he hadn't raised the bottle to his lips just before she spoke. He very, very slowly finished his sip of wine before he set the bottle down on the wooden floor. "It's okay if you don't want too." Zelda carried on talking, as if to fill the silence. "It's just that no one has ever touched me like that before, and truthfully I've never wanted anyone to touch me like that before, and it isn't just because you're handsome even though I do think you're very handsome, it's because I feel... Oh." She had trailed off, not able to finish her rambling as Link had moved her hair to let it fall over her other shoulder, and softly kissed her neck. 

He hadn't kissed her neck since the time in the stable - he hadn't been sure she wanted him too. But now, the thought that she actually wanted him to do more than just kiss her made his legs feel weak. He may have been about to ask himself rationally if he could actually touch the Princess like that, but all thoughts he had vanished when he kissed her ear, and she let out a shaky breath, letting her head fall back against his shoulder to give him more access to her skin. He kissed the side of her neck until she was holding back tiny moans, and then lifted his hand to slide his fingers through his hair so he could tilt her head to the other side, kissing the fresh skin on the other side of her neck. Now she had let out a proper moan, and Link had pulled her closer in response with the hand that was on her stomach. He was scared the alcohol was making him rougher than he usually was when he had pulled her closer, but Zelda either hadn't noticed or liked it, since she had gasped and closed her eyes, biting her bottom lip. 

She moved her head to kiss him - it was a clumsy and careless kiss due to the position they were in, but Link was pretty sure that kissing her had never felt so good. She pulled away to look at him. "Can you close your eyes?" She breathed, her skin flushed. Link did so while he nodded, though he didn't know why she was asking. That was, until she leaned forwards a little and he felt her lift her blouse over her head. She paused for just a moment, holding her top in her hands, before she put it down on the floor next to him and rested her back against his body again. Link's hands hovered at her sides, like he was unsure if he was really permitted to touch her bare skin. Zelda placed her hands over his and moved them slowly towards her body and he held his breath, letting it go when his hands finally came into contact with her waist. They were still like that for a few seconds more, both of their breaths heavy and Link's eyes still closed. 

Then he moved his hands, just slightly upwards, squeezing her gently, and she relaxed against him again. Whenever he would move his hands she would shiver underneath his touch, and she reached back with one of her hands to tangle her fingers in the hair at the back of his head. Link was feeling much more confident now, and he went back to kissing her neck while his hands explored her body, relishing the way she would gasp and moan. He tenderly nipped her earlobe with his teeth and her hand tightened on his hair, and her other hand rested on his thigh that was next to her. 

The feeling of her body under his hands and her hand on his thigh was almost too much, and he very quietly moaned into her ear. In return, Zelda had moaned as well and arched her back against him, her head falling back to rest on his shoulder again. By the time his hands reached her breasts she was writhing against him, squeezing her thighs together and breathing heavily. They moaned together as his fingers delicately brushed over her nipples, and then gradually squeezed her breasts. Her skin was soft and warm against his hands, and he almost wanted to take a moment to check if this was actually happening or if he was just dreaming, but he didn't stop kissing her neck because even if it was a dream, he would rather stay here than wake up. 

Before he knew it one of his hands had reached the top of her trousers, and they had both stopped, her hand squeezing his thigh tightly. Link had finally opened his eyes to look at her, and she had looked back before she nodded quickly. Zelda took in a shaky breath and then slowly let her thighs fall apart, resting her legs against his. Link had watched, and the first look at her naked upper half and her legs spread open made his breath hitch in his throat, and he held her tighter with a low groan. Every noise he made seemed to make her moan as well, and just as he was about to slide one of his hands under the seam of her trousers there was a knock at the door. 

They both looked around in unison, their hands quickly releasing themselves from each other. She turned to look at him, a panicked look on her face, before they both scrambled to a standing position. She rushed to pull her blouse over her head, and then ran her fingers through her hair to try and calm it. Taking his hands, she pushed him to the side of the door and then stood in front of it. She covered her face momentarily to steady her breathing, and Link closed his eyes and covered his mouth with his hand, desperately trying to think of any excuse for why he would be in the Princesses bedroom so late. He wondered if this was the first time she had hidden a boy in her room since she seemed to know what she was doing, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. 

Zelda opened the door, putting her shoulders back and standing straight. "Can I help you?"

"Princess, I hope I didn't wake you." The Rito knight that stood before her said. "I was looking for Link. I suppose it was silly of me to come looking here for him, I just thought-" He cut off his sentence. "Forgive me. The guards would like to know if he would join them for archery in the morning, and were concerned when he wasn't in the inn."

"Oh." Zelda smiled a little, trying to keep her breathing at a normal pace. "He has trouble sleeping when it's so quiet, he may have went for a walk. I wouldn't worry, if I see him in the morning I will let him know." 

The guard said a quiet thank you and bowed, and Zelda shut the door swiftly. They both stayed silent until they were sure he was gone, and then Link let out the breath he had been holding the whole time. Zelda giggled, resting a hand on her stomach as if to calm her nerves. Link didn't laugh, instead he just rubbed the side of his face with his hand - maybe he would find it funny in the morning when his heart had stopped trying to beat out of his chest. 

"I think the moment has passed." Zelda breathed, and Link smiled a little and nodded. He took a couple of steps to stand in front of her and bow, and she had giggled again and wrapped her arms around his neck to kiss him once more before he left, the door closing behind him with a quiet click. He stood for a second outside her door, silently praying to anyone that could hear that no one would be around to see him leave her room, before he made his way down to the inn. 

Even with his eyes closed, and even with the heavenly mattress and blanket, he couldn't possibly fall asleep. How had she known he had trouble sleeping if it was too quiet? He hadn't told her, he was certain of that. To him, silence meant animals weren't making any noise, and if the wildlife was silent, it meant something had scared them off. That something, as he found out the hard way, was usually something he shouldn't let sneak up on him in the dark. That wasn't his only thought - far from it. His body felt like it was on fire even though it was a chilly night, and all he could do when he thought about trying to sleep was imagine the way Zelda's body moved when he touched her, and the taste of sweet cherry wine in his mouth.


	9. Chapter 9

Wine made her too confident for her own good. That had been Zelda's first thought when she woke up, her mouth dry and her head pounding. She tried to fall back asleep, but even though she still felt very tired, she couldn't seem to relax enough to fall asleep. The music that she always had loved before that floated through the air seemed to hurt her brain now, and she slowly pushed herself to sit up. While she got dressed, she couldn't help but touch her skin, thinking about the way Link had touched it the night before. She wasn't able to tell if she was embarrassed or proud that she had been so bold, although in a way it seemed surreal that it had even happened at all. Lost in thought until there was a knock at her door, she ran her fingers through her hair and hoped her skin wasn't too flush before she answered. "Who is it?"

There was no answer, and she sighed and relaxed, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "You can come in." She said, rubbing her eyes. When she took her hands away, Link was crouched down in front of her, his arms resting on his knees. He offered her the cup he was holding and she took it, swirling it around while she looked at it. "Will this make me feel better?" She asked, and then laughed a little when he shook his head. She took a sip, though her stomach churched as soon as she did, and she shivered and set the cup down on the floor next to her. "I feel awful." She said, rubbing her face with both of her hands. "I mean, not because of last night. Well - it was all the wine I drank last night, obviously, but not because we-"

She blushed and cursed herself for always rambling, taking her hands away from her face and resting them in her lap as she closed her eyes. "My head hurts." She concluded with a sigh. Her eyes opened a moment later because Link had leaned forward to place a kiss on her forehead, and she felt her blush rising into her ears. It felt so rare that Link would ever show her affection unless she did it first, and it was almost embarrassing how flustered she got with a simple kiss from him. Sometimes she wanted to tell him that she wanted him to kiss her when _he_ wanted to, not just when she initiated it; and that she wanted him to pick her up and press her against a wall when she wasn't expecting it like she had read in a book once. She never did say that though, because she felt that somewhat defeated the purpose of it being unexpected.

"My lips hurt too." She said quietly, doing her best not to smile. Link half laughed and half scoffed, but he leaned up anyway and kissed her lips gently. After the kiss, Zelda opened her mouth to say that her lips were still too sore, and he probably had to kiss her at least a few more times until she would feel better, but she had another thought. "Aren't you supposed to be at the archery range right now?"

She stood up, moving some of the plants out of the way so she could look down, momentarily watching the Rito guards practicing with their bows. "Why haven't you joined them?" She said, turning back to Link that was now standing up. He shrugged a shoulder, and she sighed in his direction. "You didn't need to come up here instead of training." She said, taking his arms and turning him around to face the door. "I know you want to practice, just go." She said, attempting to push him towards the door, but she only managed to make him take two steps before his feet were firmly planted on the ground.

"Link." She sighed again. "There's no danger, you don't need to be here." Her words betrayed her, because all she really wanted to do was crawl back into her comfy bed and ask him to hold her and maybe take a nap with him. At the same time, she realised just how much of his time was spent with her, and felt a little guilty. "Go." She said sternly, and Link hesitated for a long moment before he finally gave her a small bow and left the room. She waited until she heard his footsteps fade into nothing, just in case he was going to stand outside her door to guard her room instead of leaving. Satisfied that he was definitely gone, she sat down on the floor where the two of them had sat the previous night.

She took her time to braid her hair, not even trying to convince herself that she didn't just want to watch Link shoot his bow over and over from her vantage point up high. She'd gotten so used to going through her daily routines with him always around her, it felt weird to do things without him. Eating without him felt the weirdest, and she wondered if maybe she should try and travel on her own one day. Of course, she knew Link wouldn't ever let her. Even if she convinced him to let her travel to the next stable alone, she knew he'd probably follow her anyway, just out of sight. It was a comforting thought, but she knew he wouldn't be her knight forever. When someone pulled out the sword, she doubted she would see him very much at all. She pushed the thought down, deciding just to add it to the list of things she would think about later.

She didn't have much to pack, since she hadn't taken much out of her bags in the first place. She brought them down to her horse, and was going to go back to the inn to get Link's things too, but she wasn't surprised to find that his things were already in a neat pile next to his own horse. Wandering a little further down, she sat on a step to watch the Rito training, smiling a little when she noticed just how small Link looked compared to the other guards. Sometimes she forgot that he was just a knight, mostly because lately it seemed like she was just travelling around with a friend. She wasn't even sure if they were friends, because friends didn't kiss each other when no one was around. She sometimes forgot he was so young, just like her, because he seemed so... Wise. At first, she'd thought he wasn't very smart, maybe because he never spoke. It was different now though, because he always seemed to know what to do.

Link had glanced over in her direction and she smiled at him, and when he let go of the string on his bow the arrow had landed just on the edge of the target, and the knights around him scoffed. Sheepishly, he handed the bow back to another guard and walked towards Zelda. He wiped the sweat away from his face, and now that he was closer she could tell he was out of breath, and she tried not to think about how good he looked in that moment. There were much bigger things to think about, and all of her thoughts were being taken up by him. Did other girls feel this way? Her friends back at the castle had talked about boys a lot and she never understood how they could possibly have _that_ much to say about one person, but now she was starting to understand.

She stood up, smoothing out her clothes. "I apologise for distracting you." It felt weird to speak to him so formally considering they had been nothing but informal with each other lately. He didn't answer, he just shook his head and started walking towards their horses.

Zelda took a few hurried steps to catch up to him. "We don't need to leave right now, you can continue." She knew he would say no, but a part of her enjoyed just watching him. Despite her words, he had helped her onto her horse so they could begin their travels again.

* * *

"You said you would take me somewhere nice, but you never have." Zelda said, the movement of the horse on her still sensitive stomach threatening to make her vomit her breakfast. Link looked over at her for a second, with a questioning look. "You did say that, you said it when we were camping. Before I got sick, the night that you..." She paused for a moment, and then laughed. "The night that I tried to kiss you and you wouldn't kiss me back." That seemed so long ago, considering they had kissed so naturally just that morning.

"I never said thank you." She continued, chewing on her bottom lip. "Not for rejecting me - for taking me back to the castle, I mean. I don't really remember it, but a guard told me you carried me through the door, and I know your ribs were still broken then. So thank you. You're an admirable knight." Link turned away after she finished talking, looking forwards, but she was fairly sure she saw a small smile on his face.

She was lost in thought for a minute, thinking back to how she had felt when she touched his chest for the first time when they were camping, and how her heart still skipped a beat in the same way whenever his tunic rode up and she got a glimpse of his skin. "Don't you remember, though? I asked if you would take me somewhere nice one day, and you agreed." Link didn't answer, in fact he didn't even look in her direction, so she snapped the reins on her horse and moved in front of him, making his horse come to a stop. "You do remember, I can tell."

Her words were backed up by the fact that Link wouldn't meet her eyes, and she was pretty sure it was because she was right and he didn't want to give in to her. "We have time, Link. We are already nearing the stable." That was a complete shot in the dark - she didn't actually know where they were, or how far away the next stable was at all. "And you promised." She added quickly. Link finally looked at her, and she looked back silently, wondering how long they would look at each other stubbornly. One of her statements must have worked though, because he leaned back to dig out an old map from his bag, making sure she heard him sigh dramatically as he did. She couldn't help but grin when she got her way, which with Link, was most of the time.

He studied the map for a while, and Zelda assumed that he was trying to see where they could go and still have time to get to the stable before night, because she had never seen him have to look at a map before. He looked like he was hesitating, but he eventually stuffed the paper back into his bag, not even bothering to fold it back up nicely. He nodded his head for her to follow him, turning his horse to head off the path. Zelda followed, trying hard to wipe the smile off her face.

It didn't take long before Link slowed his horse, getting off and tying the reins loosely around a nearby tree. He had turned around to help Zelda off of her horse but she had already done so, tying her horse to a different tree. She looked around - it was a nice place, but it looked just like places they'd been to before. Hills, green grass, a small lake beside them. "This is very pretty, but I was hoping for..." Zelda trailed off because Link had started walking up a nearby hill, and she glanced around to make sure she wasn't missing something before she followed him. The top of the hill had a large, ragged crater through the ground and Link stopped at the edge. Zelda leaned over a little to peek inside, but she couldn't the bottom, only darkness. "Is there something in there? I can't see anything."

Link didn't answer, not even a shrug which she thought was odd. Instead, he took both her hands in his, his back facing the large gap in the ground. He took in a very big breath, looking at her. She didn't do anything, and he shook her hands a little, and she finally realised what he wanted from her. She took in a breath too, and when he let his breath go she did as well. Another big breath, and a slow exhale. She did the same, but then started to feel very nervous. "Link." She said, her eyes glancing to the hole in the ground. "You are not going to jump in there." It had meant to be a question, but came out more as a statement.

He shook her hands again to get her attention back, and took in another breath. She did the same, but it wasn't making her calm - if anything it was making her more nervous. Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out. She slowly shook her head while she was breathing with him, and was about to tell him again that he couldn't jump in there, but he let go of her hands and made a point to take a loud inhale and hold it, and then stepped backwards and dropped into the crater, disappearing from view.

She gasped and dropped to her knees, although she still couldn't see the bottom. She heard a faint splash so she knew there was water at the bottom, though that didn't lessen her panic. She wasn't breathing steady anymore, she was breathing heavily and she put a hand on her chest in an effort to slow down her heart. She looked down for what felt like forever, the next noise she heard from the bottom of the crater was a whistle from Link. Zelda sat up, closing her eyes.

She couldn't do that. She wasn't a traveller, she wasn't an adventurer, and she wasn't brave. Not brave like him, and not like this. Another whistle from the bottom of the cave came up to her, louder this time, and she heard his horse whine in response. She very, very slowly dangled her legs over the edge, her hands gripping the ground. Was she really about to do this? No, she wasn't. She couldn't. She covered her face with her hands and went to move away from the ledge, and Link whistled on her once more. If he was beside her she would have told him very sternly that she was _not_ a horse, and if he wanted a woman to follow him down a sharp fall into a, scary, dark place then whistling wasn't the way to do it. Would he really let her do something if she would get hurt? She took her hands away from her face, mulling it over. She didn't think he would, and clearly _he_ was fine because he was whistling on her like an animal. She took a deep breath and... Couldn't do it. She groaned at herself and how scared she was, and went to move away from the ledge, until:

"Zelda!"

Of course, now he would say her name. After praying he would say it just once more to her one day, he would say it when he was at the bottom of an unknown cave, with a drop that was an unknown height between them. She felt like shoving him and saying that wasn't _fair_ , because he couldn't expect this of her and saying her name wasn't going to make her fall into a dark void without a second thought. But... It seemed to have worked, because she was now staring downwards and taking a deep breath in, and then exhaling slowly. In, out. In, out. She scooted herself to the very edge, and sat for a few seconds longer. In, out. Again and again, until she scrunched her eyes closed, held her breath, and pushed herself off before she could talk herself out of it again.

The fall was quicker than she thought, but at the same time felt like it lasted an eternity. She braced herself for cold water, but when she was submerged she was surprised to find out the water was hot. She worried for a moment that it was too hot, and it was going to burn her, but the worry disappeared once she realised she was actually okay. When she broke the surface, she quickly wiped the excess water away from her eyes to open them, though Link had already wrapped an arm around her in the water. Adrenaline was still rushing through her, and she hit him on she shoulder with her fist, but she couldn't bring herself to do it hard. "I can't believe you made me do that." She said between quick breaths. "This is so dangerous and you left me up there all by myself, and it's scary and dark in here and then you... Oh. Wow." She finished, because her eyes had now adjusted to the dim cave.

The walls were full of a beautiful stone that gave off a luminescent light, and it reflected off of the water, bathing everything in a cool blue glow. Water dripped periodically from the walls, and hit the water with small splashing sounds that then echoed around the cave and sounded almost musical. She looked up, to try and see if she could see the top where she had just fallen from, but she couldn't see anything. She then looked back to Link who had a smug smile on his face, and she couldn't help but laugh a little. "Sorry." She whispered, but he just nodded to the side of them and let go of her to swim over in that direction. She did as well, and was soon able to stand, wading out of the water to sit next to him on the ground.

"This is... Beautiful." She said while she wringed out her hair, letting the water drip onto her clothes since she was soaked anyway. "Why is it so warm?" She looked over to Link, but he just shrugged, so she went back to looking at the walls. The rocks close to the water almost sparkled while they were wet, and as her eyes drifted upwards they gradually became duller, giving matte glow instead.

"How did you find this place?" Zelda asked, but Link just shrugged again. She was too in awe to care about his sub-par answers to her questions, her wide as she looked around.

After another few moments of the only sound being the dripping water, she spoke again. "What if I couldn't swim?" She smiled, and Link just had laughed and rolled his eyes. He didn't laugh very much, and she always ended up feeling like her heart could burst whenever he did. She reached her arm out and took his hand, and went back to looking around. "Thank you. I didn't trust you at first, but this _is_ a really nice place." Another moment, and then she looked at him with a hint of panic again. "Wait, how do we get out? I can't climb up there." Her thoughts told her that he expected her to be able to scale the slippery walls, and she wouldn't be able to and now she would be stuck down here forever.

Link stood up and waded back into the water, looking back at her to make sure she was following him. He stopped and took in a breath before he disappeared under the water, and Zelda quickly dunked her head under in case he left without her. It took her a second to open her eyes in the water, though was surprised to find she could see quite well from the light the stones gave out under the surface. Link pulled himself through a gap in the wall and she did as well, coming to the surface to find that she was actually in the lake at the bottom of the hill they had just fallen through. She brushed her hair away from her face as she inhaled, looking around to see their horses grazing where they had left them. "We couldn't have just swam through here to begin with?" She asked, swimming the short distance to the edge of the lake, hoisting herself up onto the bank.

Link didn't respond, and she let herself fall back onto the grass, looking at the sky. She suddenly found herself giggling, her hands a little shaky from the adrenaline. "I guess it was more fun that way." Her giggles had now turned into laughs, and she held her stomach and closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of the sun on her wet skin. "I can't believe I did that. That was amazing. I would never do something like that." She turned her head to look at Link, who had taken after her and lay on the grass with his eyes closed. His hair was dripping and plastered to his head, but he somehow still looked good.

Zelda rolled slightly to the side, propping herself up on an elbow to face him. "You shouldn't whistle on girls, it's not very gentleman like." She said, and Link opened his eyes to offer her a small apologetic smile.

"You said my name." It was an obvious statement, but felt like she had to bring it up somehow. He didn't answer, not even a shrug, like he knew she was going to say something else. Chewing on her bottom lip, she then asked; "Would you say it again?"

Link looked at her for a while, like he was thinking over her question in his head. Eventually though, he slowly shook his head. Zelda couldn't help but sigh, plucking some strands of grass from the ground and then dropping them. "Okay." She said quietly, letting herself fall onto her back again. She hadn't ever asked him to say something before, and she didn't know why she had expected him to agree. She supposed it wasn't very fair to ask him - maybe he got asked to talk a lot and was sick of it, she wasn't sure . She didn't even know why he didn't talk in the first place. The creeping feeling that she didn't know anything about him whatsoever came over her again, and she pushed it down with her other worries.

She was silent for a while, and when her skin was starting to feel dry, she spoke. "Can we do it again?" She couldn't believe she was asking that, it didn't seem like her at all. It seemed surreal, like maybe it _hadn't_ been her that had just jumped into a cave, and she needed to do it once more to make sure. Link had smiled and got up, and they both walked back to the top of the cave. He gestured for her to drop down first, and she had been so sure that she would be confident this time, but the fear had taken over he again. "You first." She said, and Link hadn't even hesitated before he stepped off the ledge. How could he be so brave all the time? Maybe they taught knights how to be brave during their training. That would mean she could learn too, but it didn't make it any less scary.

It had taken her a long time to work up the courage to fall again, but when she did she had felt much more excited than before. She even felt proud of herself too, evident by the smile that she had beamed at Link when she broke the surface of the warm water again. The experience seemed much more enjoyable this time because she had known what to expect. So enjoyable, in fact, that she had asked him to do it again. And then again, and then once more after that. Now, the fifth time they had both jumped into the water, her body felt tired and shaky from all the swimming, and her stomach felt gnawingly hungry.

At the side of the lake, she brushed the worst of the water off her arms and looked around to check if anyone was around before she peeled her blouse off, letting it drop to the grass. Link had quickly turned his back to her and she laughed a little, considering he had looked the night before. She didn't say anything though, if anything she found it endearing. She changed quickly for fear that someone might be out exploring and see her, and then offered Link the same privacy to change as well, even though she desperately wanted to peek.

* * *

Link had been fairly certain that Zelda would jump in after him. In fact, she had jumped much sooner than he expected her too - he had prepared himself to be down there for ages, trying to coax her in. It was worth it to him though, because the way she smiled made his stomach flip every time. Zelda had rambled excitedly to him the entire trip to the stable. He listened, like he always did, but she mostly just said the same things over and over. How she couldn't believe she did that, how brave she had been, how exhilarating it was, and how he had to bring her back there again one day. It was nice to see her so excited - most of the time she looked like something was worrying her. He was fairly sure he knew what it was, but he never said anything. He thought often that she might be using him as a distraction, because he was certainly distracted from his thoughts when they were kissing, but he had eventually decided he didn't care.

Link had eaten a certain plant raw once. He'd never eaten it raw before, but Erish had left him while they were camping again, leaving Link to find his own way home. He did this often, and Link eventually knew the drill. He'd fall asleep, and wake up with little arrows, and no food. He knew better than to eat plants raw when he didn't know much about them, but he had nowhere to cook it and was starving. It tasted awful raw, and he hadn't eaten much of it, but after a while he noticed his body felt different. It felt lighter, and tingly, and he started to worry he'd poisoned himself. His vision had eventually started to change too - the trees looked like they were breathing, and the hills didn't look still anymore. Colours seemed more vivid, and the clouds seemed to swirl into each other over and over. He had wandered around, wondering if this is what poison felt like, but he wasn't sure if people who were poisoned could walk and think clearly like he could. He'd been watching the leaves on the trees as he walked, because they looked like they were morphing and vibrating and he'd wanted to touch them to check if they were _real_ , and he'd fallen.

The water at the bottom of the cave had broken his fall, and he'd clambered to the edge, scratching his hands in his panic. He sat with his legs still in the water and looked around, his hand ready on his sword in case there was anything in the cave to hurt him, but there was nothing but glowing rocks. He had never seen a blue that looked like that before, and when he focused his eyes on the wall, the light seemed to swirl with different shades of blue. He had supposed this was it. He would either die from eating a raw plant, or he would die of starvation in the bottom of a cave in a hill. At least he had a pretty view while he was going to die. He thought about his parents, and Erish, and how he had never kissed someone, and never became a knight, and eventually fell asleep. He was surprised when he woke up, expecting to never open his eyes again, and was surprised again to see that the rocks didn't look like they did when he had fallen asleep. The colours weren't moving anymore, and the blue colour looked normal again.

Back into survival mode, he had stood up, and felt along all of the walls. He'd tried to climb up, his hands stinging from the cuts, but fallen back down again every time. He'd even swam to the bottom, but all he had found was more luminescent rocks. On his way back to the surface, he'd noticed the hole and pulled himself through it. When he looked around and his eyes adjusted to the bright light, he wondered if he _had_ died and this wasn't actually reality. After a second though, he dragged himself out of the water and collapsed on the side of the lake, looking up at the sky. The clouds looked normal again now, moving slowly with the wind. He had laughed a little, allowing himself a moment to enjoy the feeling of the grass, and the warm sun on his skin, and the sounds of the birds in the trees before he got up and continued his way home.

He couldn't say it was a nice memory, but he had gone back to that hill a few times after that. It was like a secret place that only he knew about. His memory was interrupted as they approached the stable though, because Zelda had spoke. "I'm sorry I asked you to talk." She said, getting off of her horse. He did the same, and she took a few steps towards him. "I won't ask again."

He hadn't thought too much about it, if anything _he_ felt bad that he couldn't bring himself to do it for her. Being asked to talk wasn't anything new to him, plenty of people have asked in the past. Some had even demanded he speak to them, but he never did. He couldn't talk unless the words rose in his throat first, and they usually didn't. If anything, he felt guilty for calling her Zelda, and not Princess. He hadn't meant to call her by her name, it had just come out. It was hard to think of her as the Princess when they were so informal all the time. He told himself sternly that he had to start being more professional and start distancing himself from her. But he couldn't do it today - maybe tomorrow. Even though he told himself it over and over, a part of him knew that he wouldn't be able to do that.

Link offered her a small smile and tucked her damp hair behind her ear, and she reached up to cup his face in her hands. He wondered how it was possible that he still shivered under her touch when she had touched his face so many times before, and he placed his hands around her wrists. She looked like she was going to apologise again, but instead just stepped forwards once more to kiss him gently. He kissed her back, despite having just just been thinking he had to stop doing this with her, but pulled back after a second for fear that someone would see. She seemed to understand, because she gave him a smile and continued walking towards the stable. They hadn't stayed up that night to kiss each other, they had eaten and Zelda had fallen asleep in her bed quickly after. He didn't mind; he had actually started to feel concerned that she wasn't getting enough sleep every night, though he didn't know if it was the excitement of sneaking around or something else on her mind that kept her awake. When he finally did fall asleep, after staring at the ceiling for a long time, he dreamt of the two of them, surrounded by warm water and glowing rocks.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i mentioned in a comment that reading my own writing feels embarrassing, so up until this point i have just been typing the chapters up and posting them immediately without reading over them first haha. so i went back to fix any mistakes, and changed a few sentences to make them read easier. theres no need to go back and read them though, i just thought id let you know! 
> 
> this chapter was fun to write and theres smut ahead, which im sure people who have been reading ever since i posted the first chapter will be excited about hahaha!! :))

"Do you get scared?" Zelda asked, using her hands to move herself so she was facing him instead of the fire. This was the most she had said to Link in at least a week. It had happened gradually - first she stopped sleeping much, if at all. She would sit awake at night, staring off into nothing or looking down at her hands. He was sure he could sometimes hear her praying, very quietly, but he never brought it up. Then she stopped eating as much, she would take a mouthful or two each meal and say she was full, even though they'd been travelling all day. Then she stopped reading, stating the book didn't seem very important anymore. He wasn't really sure what that meant, but he'd gone along with it anyway. She didn't even sit around the fire at stables to listen to peoples stories or songs, saying that she was far too busy. After a few days he had taken both of her hands and shook them gently to try and coax her into telling him what was wrong, but she had just taken her hands away and said she was fine. He didn't try and ask again, deciding it wasn't his place. He was sure Princesses had a lot of things to worry about, but that didn't help him shake the feeling that he missed her, even though she was right there.

He told himself it was a good thing. Zelda didn't want to talk to him, or kiss him, or touch him, and that was a good thing. Distancing himself was something he should have done weeks ago, but he was too weak to be able to. Now he could go back to being a normal knight, who didn't sneak around with royalty at night. No matter what he told himself though, it didn't stop it hurting any less. He didn't think it would hurt at all, since he'd been broken up with, and broken up with someone, and it hadn't hurt had much at all. Maybe this was different because he and Zelda were never _together._ Not really.

The desert was cold at night, but he much preferred it compared to the sweltering heat during the day. He had expected Zelda to stay in Gerudo Town for at least a few days, but when they arrived she'd asked him to come back for her at night. He didn't argue, because he could never really say no to her. He hadn't travelled far from the town, but he'd explored a little of the desert in the surrounding area. He was surprised at just how much he missed being able to wander around by himself, even though there was mostly just sand for as far as he could see. He'd found a few monsters, but they hadn't seen him, so he didn't take it upon himself to kill them. He'd also watched a sand seal laze around for a while, until it dove back into the sand when it noticed him. He was thankful when the sun started going down, and he could wait in the shade of the Gerudo walls for her.

He glanced over at her, and then finished putting food into the small wooden bowl he was holding. He did get scared, but not very often. Sometimes he got a hint of fear when there was a monster towering over him, but it only lasted for a second before it got replaced with something else. Determination, maybe. He couldn't admit it, but he'd missed her questions that she always seemed to have at night. Even so, he just nodded, because he would much rather have her eat a full meal than talk. He sat down to face her as well, handing her the bowl. She took it, but just held it, looking down at the food.

"You don't seem like you do." She said quietly, cupping her hands around the bowl for it's warmth. "I do. I'm not brave like you are. I'm scared of a lot of things." Link looked around a little, but all he could see were other peoples tents and fires in the distance, presumably travellers that couldn't get into Gerudo town. "No, not like that. I know there's no danger here." She said, and Link turned his head back to find she was looking at him again. "I'm not scared of monsters and things. Not when you're there." She looked like she was going to continue, and he had a hope that she might finally say what was wrong, but she just closed her mouth again. Maybe it was for the best, he wasn't sure what a knight could do about any problems a Princess was having anyway, and he'd never been very good at consoling people. They sat quietly for a while, and he wondered if she was going to go back to being silent like she had been, but she eventually spoke again.

"My mother died too." She said quietly, and the sudden change of topic made him sit up a little straighter. She put her bowl down next to her, even though she hadn't even made an effort to eat any of it. "People still sing songs about her, apparently she was even more beautiful in real life than in pictures." She continued, fidgeting with her hands in her lap. "I don't remember her though. I want too, but every time I think I've started to recall something, it's just... gone." She finally looked back at Link, though now that their eyes had met again he suddenly wanted to look away. He had never told her his mother had died, and he didn't know where had heard it. He tried not to think about her too often: what was the point? She was gone, so there was nothing more to think about. "Do you remember your mother?" She asked quietly, and Link closed his eyes, swallowing the lump that was already in his throat.

He couldn't recollect the colour of her hair or her eyes, how tall she was, or what her voice was like. But sometimes he remembered a feeling, like being tucked into bed or a candle being blown out. He remembered a warm drink before bedtime, and the smell of caramelised sugar. Sometimes he thought he could remember what her laugh sounded like, but as soon as he tried to think about it more clearly it would disappear. There had been a picture of her that his father had shown him sometimes, but he could never hold it - his father had been too scared Link would accidentally damage it. He didn't know where the photo was, or what it looked like; he could only remember how he felt when he looked at it as a child.

When his eyes opened they met Zelda's, but he looked away quickly, slowly shaking his head in response to her. He had hoped the conversation would be over, and that she would just eat and then fall asleep for more than a few hours, but she had scooted a little closer to him, so he knew she wasn't done. She reached out to take one of his hands, holding it in both of hers, her thumbs on the back of his hand. He had told himself so many times that he would stop himself if something like this happened, because he didn't miss her touch. He didn't miss how she always touched him so gently, and how her hands were so soft and delicate, and how sometimes she would squeeze his hand to get his attention if he wasn't looking. Now, in reality, he was slowly starting to realise he would probably never stop longing for her. It was a daunting realisation, and it scared him more than he'd let on.

Exhaling a deep sigh, he took his hand away and leaned forwards to grab the bowl she had left on the ground, putting it back into her hands. She took it, though she didn't even look down at it. "My father told me - that's how I know about your mother." He could feel her eyes on him, but he couldn't quite bring himself to look back at her. "He told me about your father too, a little. About how he died s-" She stopped abruptly, because Link had scrambled to his feet and taken a step back, the sand crunching under his boots. He resisted the urge to cover his ears like he had done when Erish would talk about his father, forcing his arms to stay by his sides.

Zelda stood up too, slowly, like she was scared he'd run away if she made a sudden movement. "Don't you know... how he died?" She asked, very quietly. Link shook his head, and she looked at him for a few moments, clearly processing that information. "Did no one tell you? Don't you want to know?" She then asked, and he shook his head again. He didn't want to know if his father had died by someone else's hand, too weak to fight. Or if he lost his footing somewhere and drowned, or fell to the bottom of a canyon with no one around. If he didn't know, he could imagine it was something heroic, and then his death would actually mean something instead of just being a small blip in a huge world full of people.

"Oh." Zelda chewed on her bottom lip, and then took a step forwards. When Link didn't move, she took another, and then another, and then closed the distance between them to wrap her arms around his waist and rest her head on his chest. "Sorry." She said, but he shook his head quickly. He didn't like when she apologised, because he never truly felt it was needed. She wouldn't have to apologise if he just told her what he was feeling, or told her it was okay, but he couldn't do either of those things. All he really wanted to do was hug her back, like that would close his reopened wounds, but he gently pushed her away, sitting back down in front of the fire.

She looked hurt, but sat down next to him anyway. He handed her the bowl for the third time, and she sighed. "I'm not hungry." She mumbled, using the spoon to push the food around. The fire wasn't bright, but he could see she was pale and her eyes looked tired, and he knew she had to be hungry because _he_ was hungry, too. "My father thought doing this would help me, but it hasn't. It just makes me want to run away and hide somewhere, and stay hidden forever. The more I think about the everyone I speak to, and the sword, and the Hero..." She trailed off, moving to put the bowl back down but Link stopped her, putting his hand over hers.

"Please." The word was very quiet, but Zelda turned her head to him anyway like she didn't believe it was truly him that had said it.

She looked back down at the food, and his hand on hers. "Okay." She breathed. Link hadn't seen her smile in days, and although it was a small, somewhat sad smile, it was one nonetheless.

* * *

Sometimes when she got really worried, her body would feel like she was about to be attacked by a vicious monster, even though there was nothing there. Her stomach cramped up, and she would get a lump in her throat. The feeling would keep her awake at night: when she thought about the sword. How someone was going to pull it out, and become a Hero, and she would be... The same. She still wouldn't have a power, but there would be much more pressure on her. She would have to congratulate them, there would be a ceremony and even still, she would still be the same. With each day that past, that feeling kept coming back more and more until she couldn't push it down no matter how hard she tried.

There was no time to read anymore, or sit and talk to people, or stop and enjoy the view somewhere nice. It was weeks until everyone would meet in the forest, but that didn't stop her from worrying. That wasn't the only thing that scared her, there were other things too. Like what Urbosa would say when she told her there was no sign of her power, _again._ And what the Hero would look like, and if they would have to spend a lot of time together. She supposed they would, and Link wouldn't be her knight anymore. She probably wouldn't get to travel, or sit around a fire and talk, or huddle under a tree to read with him anymore.

One more thing scared her - and it was that she didn't really know who Link was. She wanted to ask, but she knew she wouldn't get an answer to satisfy her. There was a horrible, creeping feeling that she liked him _because_ she didn't know anything about him. Like her feelings were superficial, clouded by the fact he was good at kissing and made her skin feel hot, and maybe that was why he liked her too. Except she didn't know if he liked her, because she was too afraid to ask in case the answer was no. She shouldn't have let herself get to infatuated with him, because it had distracted her from what she was supposed to be doing this whole time. If she hadn't kissed him, then maybe she would have been able to unlock her power by now.

That didn't stop her instinctively reaching out for him what felt like all the time, before she forced herself to stop. Whenever she saw a nice flower, or a beautiful snowy mountain in the distance, all she wanted to do was tell him, like her thoughts didn't mean anything unless she shared them with him. She hated the way he looked so worried when she didn't eat, and how when she couldn't fall asleep he wouldn't let himself sleep either, because it would be so much easier to stop thinking about him if he didn't care. A part of her knew that if he leaned in to kiss her then she would kiss him back, and if he asked to be with her she would say yes, but he didn't do any of those things.

She thought she would never understand him unless he told her - that was why she had tried to talk about his parents. Although, she realised quickly that she could tell a lot by how he acted. She had never seen him look frightened like he had when she spoke about his fathers death. He always looked so brave and strong and put together, until he suddenly looked like a scared teenager. Kind of like she felt, too. She had thought about not hugging him, but she'd missed his touch so much that her body seemed to do it without her thinking.

Whenever he spoke she would hold onto the word for days, repeating it over and over again in her head. It was like his voice beckoned her, and she wondered if he asked her to do something if she would do it just because it was in his voice. She was pretty sure the answer was yes, and it was evident now that she was eating more than she had in a week because he had said _please._ At first, it felt like her stomach was going to reject the food, but after a while she started to realise how hungry she actually was. Link hadn't started eating until she had, and hadn't finished until she did too.

"I feel better." She said eventually. It wasn't a lie, she did feel better, but there was still the scared feeling in the tips of her fingers. "I've missed you." She whispered before she even had time to think about her words. She had been with him the whole week, just like always, but that wasn't what she meant. She wasn't sure if she could even put it into words; she missed how her stomach would flip after she pulled away from a kiss to see he was smiling, and missed how when he closed his eyes and leaned his head back his neck and jaw somehow looked _divine_ , and missed the way would tie his hair back up after she messed it up while they were kissing.

She looked over at him and he was looking at her too, and she felt like she was back at the stable under candlelight, about to kiss him for the first time again. That seemed so long ago, when her thoughts were all consumed by him, before she started worrying so much all the time. She felt nervous the way she had that day, her fingers tingling and her breath starting to get shaky. Now she wasn't so sure if it _was_ him distracting her from her power, because how could something that was bad make her body feel like this?

She wondered if she was _really_ going to kiss him, after working so hard to distance herself for days. But the thought was gone immediately, because Link's eyes had flickered down to her lips and then back up, and all she could think about was how good his mouth could make her feel. Her body was so naturally leaning towards him and he was leaning towards her too, until she could feel his breath on her skin and she held her breath and closed her eyes before they pressed their lips together. It was a gentle kiss, and the contact made her feel tingly, and they both pulled away after a moment. Zelda let go of the breath she was holding and opened her eyes to look up at him, but as soon as their eyes met their lips were pressed together again, much more confidently this time. Before she knew it her hands were in his hair and she had moved onto her knees to get closer to him, but it clearly wasn't enough because her body carried her further towards him until she broke away from the kiss, maybe to ask him if he would _please_ press her against the ground or maybe lift her up, or something because she-

Her thought stopped, because she didn't have to ask, since Link had put an arm around her waist to pull her onto his lap effortlessly, and the way he had lifted her so easily and the fact she hadn't had to ask him to made her stomach feel like it was on fire. She took in a deep, shaky breath when he put his other arm around her to press their bodies together before she kissed him again, her hands going to rest on either sides of his jaw. She breathed against his lips between kisses, like she didn't want to pull away for even a second, her hands slowly trailing over down his neck, then his shoulders and down his arms, her grip tight so she could feel his muscles under his tunic. Once she reached his forearms that were against her, she pulled his arms away and broke away from the kiss so she could reach down and lift off her top. She didn't hesitate like last time, or even ask him to close his eyes, she took it off in one, smooth motion and dropped it from her hands, paying no attention to where it landed.

She watched his eyes trail down to her breasts, his chest rising and falling with slow, heavy breaths. She closed her eyes when he returned his hands to her back, and shivered when his hands started moving up along her spine, even though the fire was making her skin warm, until a hand rested at the back of her neck to pull her back into a kiss. She moaned quietly against his mouth, silently wondering what had taken him so long to get so confident in the way he touched her. Her fingers were gripping the material of his tunic as they kissed, but she couldn't bring herself to pull away to take it off yet, because she noticed while shifting her position that if she moved her hips just right, Link would tighten his grip on her a little. Now she was moving her hips constantly, like it was instinct, and he was groaning against her lips, and there was a feeling in her stomach she hadn't felt before. She may have described it as an ache but that wouldn't be right because it didn't hurt, it felt like the beginnings of a whirlpool that, the more it formed, made her body feel better and better.

Her thoughts about defining the feeling in her stomach were interrupted, because Link had wrapped one arm around her waist again, lifting her with him to lay her down on her back, and his head moving to her neck to litter it with slow, conscientious kisses. His arms were on either side of her to hold himself up over her, and she let her head fall back to give him more access to her neck, closing her eyes. She was sure she was moaning but she could barely hear it because she was so focused on how her skin felt when he kissed it, lifting up her hips to press her body up against his. He pulled away, and she opened her eyes quickly and pushed herself up a little on one arm, for fear that he might want to stop and she _really_ didn't want him to stop, but he had just sat up on his knees between her legs to shrug off his tunic, lifting it off and placing it next to him. Now she was very aware that she was blushing furiously as she looked at him, but she was pretty sure he was blushing too. She couldn't tell, because she wasn't looking at his face anymore, she was fully invested in his chest and his stomach, watching the fire light glint off of some of his scars.

He leaned back down to kiss her neck again, and she ran her fingers down his chest. "Wow." She breathed, and she felt Link chuckle against her skin. She moved her head towards him so he would move away from her neck, allowing her to kiss his lips again. She hadn't meant it, but her thighs were squeezing his hips and when she noticed, she put her hands on his waist to pull him down closer to her. Even if their bodies were pressed fully together, she still wasn't sure it would even feel close enough. He moved his hips down with the pull of her hands, and she raised her hips to meet his. The contact made them both stop kissing each other just to moan, and Zelda opened her eyes to look at him, the two of them now still. After a second it was like they both snapped into the same reaction - Link sitting up slightly and running his hands down over her breasts and then over her hips, down to unbutton her trousers, while she arched her back into his touch, hooking her fingers in her waistband, wriggling her hips a little to try and get them off.

It was clumsy to get them off, and eventually she had sat up and just taken them off herself, and they both stopped to giggle at the absurdity of not being able to get her trousers off before she moved to lay back down in front of him, pulling him down with her to press her lips against his again. They were grinding their hips against each others now, and the feeling of him against her through his trousers combined with the way she was pressed into the sleeping mat by his body made that feeling in her stomach come back, stronger this time. He moved down her neck and kissed along her collarbone, and she suddenly started to feel a little nervous. What if it didn't feel good? What if it hurt? Someone had told her before it hurt a lot, but she didn't know if that was the truth because what he was doing felt so good in the moment. Besides that, what if she wasn't _ready?_ She had thought about it a million times, she'd even dreamt about it, but now that she was actually here she was much more nervous than she had been when she dreamt about it.

She was snapped back to reality, noticing he wasn't pressed against her anymore and her hips weren't grinding against his, because he had kissed over her breasts and was moving down her stomach slowly. Every piece of skin he had kissed before he moved further down was burning, and she shivered as his hands ran down her hips and eventually rested on the outside of her thighs. She closed her eyes for a moment, lost in the way that her body felt so hot even though the fire was barely burning anymore and the air was cold. She opened them a second later though, because his lips had moved to her inner thigh and were going down, and she gasped and sat up a little, propping herself up on her elbows. "Link..." She started, about to tell him that he couldn't kiss her _there_ , because she'd be embarrassed and she'd never thought about him doing that before, but no words came out once he looked up and met her eyes for a moment and then he _did_ kiss her there and she closed her eyes immediately, her mouth open and her body frozen.

She hadn't thought it would feel like that, and any thoughts about her being embarrassed were gone because she could only think about how much she wanted him to do that again. She could feel him kissing her other thigh, working his way down again and she took a deep breath, letting it go in the form of a moan when he did it again. Her hips moved towards his mouth even though she had tried to keep them still, her eyes still shut tightly, and then he used his hands that were on her thighs to pull her a little closer and press his tongue against her clit, and her arms gave out from under her. She her head fell back against the mat and her back arched, gasping in a sharp breath of air. She didn't get a moment to recover from the feeling because he hadn't pulled away, he just moved his tongue around and it was like he controlled her body as he did, because she was already writhing and moaning with every breath she took. The feeling in her stomach was quickly getting stronger, and slowly starting to spread up her torso and down to her thighs now that he was moving his tongue in slow circles, and her legs were shaking, her fingernails digging into her palms, and it felt like it was making her feel _too_ good and it was too intense, and then it definitely was because she gasped and pulled away from him, sitting up quickly and closing her legs, squeezing her thighs together.

Link sat up too, breathing just as heavy as her, and she rubbed her thighs like it would get rid of the feeling deep inside her. "I-I don't know." Was all she could manage to say at first, her body still feeling like it was trembling. "I mean - I think that felt too nice. I don't know." She laughed a little at herself, suddenly a little self conscious that she was naked, even though he had just been between her legs. He moved closer so he could lean forward and kiss her forehead, and then her cheek, and then her lips. She closed her eyes and let out a breath against his lips. He moved back to kiss her neck again, and she moaned quietly. He kissed over her neck before moving to the other side, but he didn't make an effort to go any further down. Zelda rested her hands on his bare shoulders, trying to steady her breath, but it was hard when he could make her moan so easily. Once the feeling had left her legs and returned to it's rightful place in her stomach she relaxed again, but even though she had pulled away in the first place, she couldn't help but keep thinking about how nice it had felt.

She put her hands on his neck, the blush returning to her cheeks, and then she looked away, like she couldn't look at him when she asked quietly; "Can you do it again?" Link put his hand on her jaw to turn her head to face him again, kissing her once more before nodding. The feeling inside her immediately came back, and she tried to keep her breath from shaking when he lay her back down and kissed down her body again, but she had no control over any part of herself when he was back between her legs, his tongue moving with one, smooth stroke over her clit. The more his tongue moved the more her hips and body moved, even though she tried to keep herself still. She looked up at the sky and at all the stars, and then draped an arm over her eyes because her legs had started shaking again, her other hand balled into a fist at her side. She had been about to pull away when the feeling started spreading but Link pulled away first, sitting up and leaning over to take both of her hands in his.

She opened her mouth to ask how he knew that the feeling was getting too much for her, but she didn't have time because he moved back down between her legs, holding her hands tightly. She looked down and it felt like her whole body throbbed when she did, because she hadn't realised how _good_ he looked while he was doing... that. She couldn't think straight as she watched him, so focused on how he was holding her hands so tight and also holding her hips down to keep them still so easily, and the pressure of his hands somehow made it feel even better, and her fingernails were now digging into him but he just squeezed her hands and now _he_ was moaning as well and that alone was almost too much for her, and she hadn't even realised that the feeling had spread down to her clit until it was too late. She opened her mouth but no sound came out, closing her eyes because a wave of pleasure had crashed into her and spread through her whole body this time, down her legs and arms and up to her neck, her head falling back and knocking a loud, low moan out of her. The wave subdued into small ripples of pleasure instead, but each one still made her moan.

Link pulled away after a few seconds, which was good because she had started to feel like she was too sensitive for him to be down there anymore, but she didn't open her eyes. Instead, she covered her hands with her face, suddenly feeling very embarrassed, and suddenly very aware that the fire was no longer burning at all and her skin was starting to feel cold again instead of burning hot. She peeked through her fingers after a few seconds because Link was holding out her warm sleeping clothes to her, and she slowly dropped her hands to take them. "Thank you." She whispered, pulling her top over her head first. By the time she got her trousers on too, he had come back over with a blanket, and wrapped it around her shoulders. She was disappointed to see he had his tunic back on, but she couldn't blame him, because she was starting to shiver from the cold even with the blanket.

He knelt down to get the fire started again, his breath coming out in clouds of smoke, and she crawled over to sit in front of the fire. She held her hands out towards it once it was lit, though she couldn't tell if her hands were shaky from the cold or because of what just happened. Link sat down next to her, but after a minute of silence she took his hand to pull him down to lay with her, draping the blanket over the two of them. She tangled her legs with his and buried her face in his chest when he put his arm around her. "That was embarrassing." She finally said, and he moved his hand to brush his fingers through her hair with a laugh. She looked up at him, still blushing. "I'm serious." She said, but she couldn't help but smile whenever he laughed. He shook his head, tucking her hair behind her ear. She shifted herself up so she could rest her head on the pillow next to his head, tracing her fingers along his jaw. "You've done that before." She murmured, closing her eyes, though she could feel Link shake his head under her hand. "I don't believe you." She giggled, her hands wandering down his neck and then to his jaw again. He put his hand on her back and she could feel his fingers tracing up and down her spine, and for the first time in at least a week, she felt tired enough to fall asleep straight away.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a really short chapter, ive been feeling totally creatively dead lately and im not sure why! also whenever i read over earlier chapters and the one im working on i convince myself i cant post it because its bad, does anyone else do that?? so annoying haha! so its short and sweet for this one, thanks for reading! :))

The sun was streaming through the gaps in the trees, and landing on the grass in little warm pools. They had stopped just outside of Hateno Village so that Zelda could pray, but Link soon realised that she just wanted to sit in the sun for a while. He didn't like doing nothing, he never had. It seemed like a waste when he could be training, but somehow it didn't feel unproductive when he was with her. He felt like he should miss the bustling sounds he could hear from the village in the distance, but he didn't. It didn't feel like home anymore, but he didn't know exactly _when_ it had stopped feeling like home. The thought of having to stay there for two nights made him feel a little nauseous, and he couldn't pinpoint why. Maybe he didn't want to see people he knew, the house he had lived in, or the farms he had played in as a child. The village had seemed so big when he was little, but now that he had travelled across many parts of Hyrule, it seemed insignificant in comparison.

Zelda had been braiding his hair for a while, and Link had been watching the concentrated look on her face while she did. Her hands were cold compared to the sun that was beaming down on them, and he resisted the urge to shiver when her fingers would brush against his face. "You need to stop looking at me like that." She murmured, in the process of weaving a long piece of blue fabric ribbon through the braid. Link didn't know what look he had been giving her, but it wasn't the first time she'd brought it up. Since they left the desert, whenever he would fix his gaze on her for more than a few seconds at a time, she would blush and seem flustered. She had said that the look made her stomach feel funny, and made her want to kiss him when she was trying to focus. He wasn't convinced that he was _actually_ looking at her any different from the way he did all the time - but if he was, it was probably because everything about her reminded him of how she looked when she moaned under him, her hands and how they had gripped his so tightly, how her hair had splayed out on the sleeping mat, how her back would arch, and how soft her skin was. The more he thought about it, the more he decided that was most definitely the reason.

"Link. I'm serious." She spoke again, glancing over to him with a blush rising on her face. She was kneeling just to the side of him, and she shifted her position to sit cross-legged instead, holding his hair in the same place with her fingers as she did. "I'm trying to concentrate, you're going to make me mess this up." Link smiled a little, and although he didn't want too, moved his head to stop looking at her. There were plenty of other things to look at: their horses grazing contently nearby, a deep green moss growing in a strange pattern over the bark of a tree, a flower that looked like it was holding far too many petals to continue to hold itself up any longer, a pile of rocks that looked like they had been stacked beautifully by hand for some reason, the bugs that were so small they could only be seen when they hit the streams of hazy light that poured between the leaves. The forest was peaceful and beautiful, but his eyes still quickly found themselves back to Zelda.

It didn't take long for a blush to rise on her cheeks again, letting out a sigh and turning to him. She had tried to look annoyed, but after a moment she ended up smiling anyway. She looked like she might say something, but she closed her mouth again and leaned forward to kiss him gently instead. She pulled away after a second, but then immediately leaned back in to kiss him again. His hand automatically went to rest on her hip, his other one on the ground so he could lean on it. She seemed lost in the kiss, because despite complaining about messing up the braid, she let go of his hair to rest her hands on either side of his neck. He felt his hair slowly unravel at the side of his face, though he made no effort to stop it, and the ribbon wafted to the ground between them. Zelda pulled back, taking her hands away from him to smooth out her trousers on her thighs. "I told you that would happen." She said, picking the fabric back up and tucking her hair behind her ears. "Now I need to start again. Just... Close your eyes."

She covered his eyes with her hand and he smiled, and kept them closed when she slowly took her hand away. She waited for a for a few moments, presumably to make sure he wouldn't open them, and started to braid his hair again. He kept still for a while, until she was at least half way done on that side, and then his hand that was on her hip slowly trailed upwards to her shoulder, running his fingers along her arm until he reached her wrist, and then back down again. He only got to do this twice, because when he went to move his hand back up she grabbed his forearm to stop him. "I know you know what you're doing to me." Link didn't answer, instead he just let his head fall back and exhaled a breathy laugh as she put his hand on the ground next to him.

He knew the braid must be finished because her hands hadn't moved in a few seconds, and he assumed she was waiting because she was about to say something. However, she just leaned forwards and brushed her lips against his neck. No one had actually ever done that before - he knew it must feel nice because he saw how Zelda reacted when he did it to her, but he didn't realise that it felt like... _that._ He didn't notice that he had been holding his breath until she did it again, and he exhaled shakily. When she did it once more, her lips had fully pressed to his skin and he sat up straight at the feeling, lifting his head back up. He couldn't quite bring himself to open his eyes because he knew he must be blushing furiously, and because he didn't even know if he wanted her to do it again, or if it felt _too_ good and he needed her to stop.

She didn't do it again, though, so he didn't need to make that decision. Instead, she just crawled over his lap to sit on his other side, running her fingers through the piece of hair that hung down at his face, making sure there were no knots before she started a new braid. "Don't open your eyes yet." She said quickly when he turned his head a little to her. It was endearing that she was only brave enough to do that when his eyes were closed, and he might have even laughed about it if his neck wasn't burning in the spots where she had kissed his skin. He had thought he was stronger than this but apparently not, because all it took was exactly three kisses before his brain was cloudy and his breath was heavy. It felt like he had only just gotten his breathing back to a steady pace, but then her hands stopped moving again and his heart started beating harder.

"Can I do it again?" Zelda asked, her voice very quiet. He swallowed, though he was nodding before he had even really thought about it. She put her fingers on his jaw and tilted his head to the side just slightly, and then pressed her lips to his neck again, and he inhaled sharply. He'd moaned in front of her before, but it seemed different this time, like it would be too embarrassing to admit how nice it felt and how flustered he was getting when she was barely doing anything. The embarrassment soon disappeared though, because after kissing up to his jaw and then back down, she had moaned against his skin. His jaw clenched and his head fell back with a low groan, and he felt her smile slightly against his neck. He lifted his hand so he could touch her, maybe to rest a hand on her hip or stop her so he could kiss her instead, since it didn't seem fair that he felt nice and she didn't, but she stopped his hand and pushed it back down to the ground. She ran her fingers from his wrist up to his shoulder, along his collarbone and down to his stomach, and now he was shivering under her touch as well as trying not to moan from her kisses. He wondered how much more of this he could really take because his body had never felt like this before - his shoulders were tense and his chest was heaving up and down with deep breaths, his skin was on fire and he could practically hear his heartbeat in his ears.

His head snapped back up because her fingertips had brushed ever so slightly over the crotch of his trousers, and when he opened his eyes he watched her hand hovering just above his belt. "Is this okay?" Zelda whispered, her breath against his ear making another groan leave his throat. It took all of his self control not to lift his hips up to meet her hand, but he kept them firmly planted to the ground, closing his eyes again to see if his brain could conjure up a rational thought. Was it okay?

Technically, no. Every part of what they had done outside of normal knight duties wasn't okay, but that ship had sailed long, long ago. In some way it seemed okay that he could touch her and make her feel good, but it was different when it was the other way around. The dynamic didn't feel like it was the same, like she deserved to feel pleasure and be kissed and touched because she was the _Princess_ , and in complete contrast he wasn't anyone. He wasn't part of royalty and he certainly wasn't rich, and he felt like he'd just _somehow_ managed to fool a beautiful girl into believing that he was interesting and worthy enough of her affection. On top of that, when she was flustered like he was right now she always looked and sounded so good that he'd think about it on repeat in his head for hours at a time, and he couldn't imagine he'd look like that to her. Maybe he was a little scared, though he couldn't even admit that to himself, never mind to her. No one had ever seen him naked or touched him like that before, so he didn't know what he was supposed to _do_ in this situation.

"It's okay." Zelda said, and Link opened his eyes to see she had taken her hand away and brushed a strand of hair away from his face, before putting her hands in her lap. He sighed and fell back, laying with his back on the grass and looking up at the small glimpses of blue sky he could see between the leaves above him. He rubbed his chest with his hand like that would stop his body feeling so hot and the skin on his neck stop tingling, wondering how he'd trained so much to be brave in the face of danger, but couldn't even let someone unbutton his trousers. "I was really nervous too." Zelda spoke again, moving to lay down next to him, their shoulders touching. "You know, before you... touched me like that, I guess. It's okay."

He turned his head to the side to look at her, and thought about saying he wasn't nervous, he was much more manly than that, but he just slowly nodded instead. She closed her eyes against the sun, but turned her head to meet his eyes after a moment anyway. "Will you do mine?" She asked, propping herself up on an elbow. He raised his eyebrows a little, because if the question was would he kiss her neck and touch her there, then the answer was definitely yes, but she blushed immediately after and added; "I meant my hair, Link." Now it was his turn to blush, and he laughed a little before nodding, and she sat up to hand him another piece of blue ribbon, brushing her fingers through her hair to detangle it so he could start braiding it.


End file.
